All too well
by Rachelmasonfan25
Summary: Follows the divorce of Rachel and her husband and how the kids cope. Will Rachel be able to help her children through this tough time or will they shut her out?
1. Chapter 1

**In this Rachel is married to Chris and they have three children; Finn 13; Emily 11 and Lola 7. Rachel was never a prostitute in this story and is really close to her parents, Sue and Paul. **

It was a Tuesday and Finn, Emily and Lola were at their grand- parents', Sue and Paul's, house for tea; something that they did every Tuesday after school.

"I think it's probably time we were getting you three home" Sue said after noticing the time

"But I like this" Lola said referring to the TV program that they were watching

"Well I tell you what I'll put it onto record and then we'll watch it next time"

"Okay then"

The three children went and got all of their stuff together before going into the kitchen to get their shoes and coats on.

"Do you want me to take them back?" Paul asked

"No it's okay I want to speak to Rachel anyway"

Once they were all ready Sue walked out to the car with her grand- children. The journey was only about five minutes so it wasn't long until they arrived at Rachel and Chris's house.

Lola and Finn immediately ran into the house leaving Sue and Emily to bring all the bags in

"Thanks love" Sue said smiling at her eldest grand- daughter

Rachel was stood at the door waiting for them to come in and both Sue and Emily both noticed Rachel's puffy, red eyes immediately

"Hi" Rachel said in an unusually flat tone

"Rach what's wrong?" Sue asked worrying what her daughter was upset about

"Nothing, I'm okay. Em can you just go into the lounge for me a second please I need to talk to Grandma"

"Okay" Emily said before going into the lounge where her brother and sister were sat

"Is Dad not in?" Emily asked

"Mum said he's upstairs" Finn replied

"Oh no we're not watching this" Emily said just noticing that her brother had the football on

"Yes we are I'm not missing it"

"But we don't like football" Lola said sticking up for her big sister

"Well go and put the TV on in the play room then if you don't like it"

The three of them were still arguing over the TV when Chris walked into the lounge closely followed by Rachel.

"Where's Grandma?" Emily asked

"She's gone home"

"She didn't say goodbye to us though" Lola said

"I know she told me to say goodbye to you though. Finn can you turn that off for a minute please?"

"No I'm watching it"

"Finn I said now" Rachel said raising her voice slightly

Finn did as Rachel told and then Chris told him to go and sit on the same sofa as his sisters. All three of them were beginning to wonder what was going on now.

"Me and your Mum need to talk to you about something" Chris informed them

"What about?" Emily asked curiously

Rachel looked at Chris expectantly not wanting to be the one to have to tell the kids

"Well the thing is… I'm not going to be living here anymore" Chris said really not knowing how to tell the kids this

"What are you talking about?" Emily said not really understanding what was going on

"You're going to stay living here with your Mum, but I'm going to move out"

"Why?" Finn asked

"Because your Dad's decided he doesn't want to be married to me anymore" Rachel said the tears forming in her eyes again

Rachel and Chris were crying now as were Emily and Lola. Finn couldn't believe what he was hearing and was finding it really hard to fight back his tears.

It was strange for the kids to see Rachel cry in front of them, let alone their Dad.

"Why doesn't Daddy want to be married to you anymore?" Lola asked through tears

Rachel sat on the sofa in the middle of Emily and Finn and put Lola on her lap

"Because he doesn't love me anymore, but what you three have got to remember is that Dad still loves you"

"I love you so so so much, I will never stop loving you three"

"I thought you and Mum were just having another argument, I thought you would make up like you normally do" Emily said

"I'm afraid not love, this is for the best though because you won't have to put up with me and your Dad arguing anymore. Chris I think it's best if you just go now"

"Where's he going to go?" Finn asked

"He's going to go and stay with Uncle Jack and Auntie Helen for a bit until he figures out somewhere to live"

"You three going to come and give me a hug before I go then?" Chris asked so all three children went over to their Dad. The five of them were all crying now, even Finn

After a while Chris pulled away and walked out to the front door; the three of them followed him out

"Daddy I don't want you to go I want you to still live with us" Lola said

"I wish I could sweetheart but it's just going to make us all happier if I go"

"But I'll miss you"

"I'll miss you too, but you can ring me whenever you like and I'll come and see you as soon as I can" Chris said picking up his youngest daughter

Rachel came out into the hallway shortly after and tried to take Lola off Chris but she just clung to him

"Come on Lola you need to let Daddy go now"

"No I don't want Daddy to leave"

"I know you don't but he has to, come on come and give Mummy a cuddle"

Eventually Lola let go and let Rachel take her into her arms.

"Please don't go Dad" Emily begged getting into a real state

"I have to love, I'm sorry"

"No you don't, you and Mum can make up like you always do and then we can all still live together. It won't be the same without you here"

There was nothing else Chris could say other than "I'm sorry"

Chris said his final goodbyes before walking out of the door, closing the door behind him.

Finn rushed up to his bedroom as soon as Chris had left not wanting them all to see him upset

"Where are you going?" Rachel asked

"To my room" Finn said and with that he was gone. Knowing he probably just wanted some time alone to take it all in Rachel decided not to follow him up

Rachel was left with two very upset girls both crying their eyes out

"Come on you two let's go into the lounge" Rachel said trying to remain strong for her children's sake, but inside she felt truly crushed

Rachel sat down on the sofa and let her two daughters sob into her whilst she had a good cry herself. She didn't know what she could do to make them feel better. She didn't know what she could do to make herself feel any better.

"When are we going to see Dad again?" Lola asked

"I don't know but I promise you can see him soon"

"Tomorrow?"

"Maybe love, we'll just have to see won't we"

"I miss him"

"I know you do, me too. Why don't we all go and put our pyjamas on though and then have a big cuddle in my bedroom"

Slowly, the two girls followed Rachel up the stairs before going into their bedrooms. Neither of them could quite get over what had just happened, this morning they were all sat having breakfast round the table together and now their Dad no longer lived with them.

Rachel knocked on her son's bedroom door

"Go away" Finn shouted but Rachel went in anyway. It upset Rachel so much when she walked into Finn's bedroom to find him lying on his bed his eyes red from crying

"It's all your fault Dad's left, if you'd have stopped being so bossy and nagging him all the time he'd probably still be here" Finn shouted at his Mum

"Finn, I know your hurting but I'm hurting too you know"

"Just leave me alone"

Rachel didn't have the energy to fight with him so instead just walked out closing Finn's bedroom door shut behind him.

She went into her bedroom and started to put her pyjamas on. It wasn't long before Emily and Lola were there to join her.

The first thing Emily saw when she went into her parents room was a big heap of tissues obviously because her Mum had been crying so much earlier.

Rachel continued to get changed and then got into bed with her daughters, not even bothering to pick up her clothes

"Mum why doesn't Dad love you anymore?"

"I don't really know I guess that sometimes people change so they just don't feel the same way anymore"

"Do you still love Daddy"

"Yes" Rachel replied simply. As much as it pained her to say it, there was no point in lying about the fact she still loved Chris deeply. She knew they were having their problems but she thought that after everything they'd been through and everything they had together they would be able to work it out. But she was wrong

"Will we still live here Mum or will we have to move house?"

"Hopefully we'll be able to stay here love, but if you'd rather move so we can have a fresh start then that's fine"

"No I want to, but when my friend's parents split up they had to move house because her Mum couldn't afford to live there on her own"

"Oh well I would think we'll be fine" Rachel smiled

The girls were still really shaken up so it took Rachel a while to calm them down, however eventually Lola did drop off to sleep.

"Do you want to sleep in here tonight too?" Rachel asked Emily

"No I'll go in my own bed"

"Okay love but don't be afraid to come to me in the middle of the night if you can't sleep or you just want a cuddle or something"

"Okay, night Mum"

"I'll come and tuck you in" Rachel said before the two of them got off the bed being careful not to wake Lola

Rachel sat on Emily's bed whilst she went into the bathroom. When she came back Rachel made sure she was comfy and then sat with her for a bit.

Emily wasn't crying anymore but Rachel could tell she was holding back the tears.

"Come on Em, it's okay to be upset you don't need to pretend you're not because I know you are" Rachel said before Emily burst into a fresh flood of tears

"I want him back Mum" Emily sobbed

"I know, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry" Rachel cried

"You don't have to be sorry, it's not your fault"

"Thank you darling" Rachel said glad that not all of her kids thought she was the bad one in all of this

Rachel laid down next to Emily where they both had another good cry. Rachel rubbed Emily's back and eventually she cried herself to sleep.

Rachel sighed to herself knowing they all had a very tough time ahead of them.

After leaving Emily's room Rachel dithered about going into see Finn again, but decided against it not feeling up to him blaming her again. Instead she went and got into bed with her youngest daughter and put her arms around her, but she didn't fall asleep.

Rachel was still wide awake when Lola woke up crying.

"I want Daddy" she cried

"Come here love" Rachel said pulling the girl into her chest not knowing what to say

"I- I just want to talk to him" Lola said struggling to get her words out because she was cying so much

"Shall we give him a ring?" Rachel asked and Lola nodded "I don't know if he'll pick up mind you because he's probably asleep"

It had been ringing for a while so Rachel thought that he probably wasn't going to pick up, she was just about to hang up when Chris picked up

"Rach is everything alright?" he asked

"Lola wants to speak to you" Rachel said abruptly before passing the phone to Lola

"Daddy"

"Hi sweetie, are you still feeling upset?"

"I want you to come home"

"I know but that's not an option, is Mummy giving you lots of cuddles?"

"Yes and I'm sleeping in her bed but it feels weird without you there too"

"I bet you have lots of room though"

Lola started to get really worked up again

"I'll say goodnight now darling, you sleep tight I love you lots. Can you pass me back to Mummy?"

Lola passed the phone back to her Mum however Rachel didn't really feel like speaking so just ended the call before comforting her daughter.

It took a while but Lola did eventually calm down and fall back to sleep. It was another couple of hours but Rachel did too fall asleep in the end.

When Rachel's alarm went off the next morning she quickly turned it off not wanting it to wake Lola up. She didn't get up though because she had absolutely no intentions of going to work today. She knew that they all needed the day off.

Rachel stayed in bed for a bit longer before putting her dressing gown on and going downstairs and making herself a cup of coffee.

She hadn't been downstairs for very long when Emily appeared in the kitchen in her pyjamas and sat at the kitchen table next to her Mum

"Morning love"

"Why didn't you wake me up? Don't I need to get ready for school?"

"You're not going to school today, I thought it was best we all had the day off"

"No I want to go into school"

"I really don't think that's the best idea love"

"I don't want to stay around here all day. I'm fine, I want to go to school"

"Please have the day off for me"

"No I want to go in"

"Well if you're sure I suppose I can't stop you but I really do think you'd be better off staying at home today"

"I'm going to get ready" Emily said before going back upstairs

Rachel put her head in her hands and sighed. She'd been sitting like this for a while when the doorbell went. The last thing Rachel wanted to do was see anyone but she knew she couldn't just shut herself out from the rest of the world.

She got to the front door and saw it was her Mum. Rachel opened the door and immediately fell into her Mum's embrace where the tears started to fall again.

After a while Rachel calmed down a bit so went through to the kitchen with her Mum

"Do you want a coffee Mum?" Rachel asked

"I'll do that, you sit down"

Sue made them both a coffee before sitting down next to her daughter. She knew Rachel probably didn't want to talk about it at the moment, but for Rachel her Mum just being there was making her feel better.

Sue was just about to ask about the kids when a sleepy Lola appeared at the kitchen door, her brown curly hair all over the place.

"Morning Lola" Sue said

"Grandma" Lola said rushing over and sitting on her Grandma's lap and giving her a cuddle "what are you doing here?"

"I just thought I'd come and give you all a visit"

A little while later Emily came downstairs now dressed in her school uniform

"Mum it's nearly time to go"

"You need to have some breakfast first"

"I'm not hungry"

"I'm not having you go to school with an empty stomach, now what do you want?"

"I don't want anything"

"If you don't eat you're not going to school"

"Fine I'll have some toast then"

Rachel got up and started to make Emily her breakfast

"Mummy I don't want to go to school today I want to stay with you"

"You don't have to go today my love, we're going to have a nice day at home"

"Why does Emily have to go to school then?"

"Because she wants to, but you know Em you really don't have to"

"I want to"

"Do you want me to drop her off?" Sue asked

"No it's alright I'll do it" Rachel replied "I want to have a word with Emily's teacher about everything" Rachel said quietly when Emily had her back to them

"I'll just quickly go and get dressed and then we'll go" Rachel said before quickly going upstairs. She just stuck on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt and brushed her hair not really caring what she looked like

"You haven't eaten much" Rachel said coming back into the kitchen

"I can't eat anymore"

"Okay then, come on let's go. Are you alright to stay here until I get back Mum?"

"Yeah of course"

Rachel and Emily went and got in the car to get to school. Emily didn't say a word and Rachel was beginning to worry about her. She never was very good at opening up to people about how she was feeling.

When they got to school Rachel got out of the car with Emily. Normally when Lola wasn't going to school Rachel wouldn't bother to walk in with Emily.

"Mum why are you coming in?" Emily asked

"I just want to have a little chat with Mrs Jones that's all"

"Why?"

"Just to tell her what's happened"

"Why does she need to know? It's none of her business"

"well because you're bound to still be upset today and she'll probably wonder why"

Emily sighed not really seeing why her Mum needed to tell her teacher but walked in with Rachel and then rushed off to find her friends.

"Bye Em, have a good day just ring me if there's any problems"

"Mum I'm fine" Emily said before going off

Rachel found Mrs Jones and had a quick chat with her. She said that she'd let Rachel know if there was any problems and keep an eye on Emily.

When Rachel got back to the house Lola was in the lounge with Sue crying again, but there was still no sign of Finn downstairs.

"Mummy" Lola said noticing her Mum had come in

"Hi darling, you feeling a bit upset again?" Rachel asked sitting the other side of her daughter

"I don't know why I keep crying"

"It's because you're feeling sad at the moment, but I promise you you'll start to feel better eventually"

"Is Finn up yet?"

"Yeah he came down and had some breakfast with Lola, he's gone back up to his room now though"

"I'm just going to go up and have a word with him"

Rachel walked upstairs to her son's bedroom where he was playing his xbox.

"Hey Finn" Rachel said but Finn just completely ignored her

"Please don't be like this with me I know you're upset at the moment but I can't help you unless you talk to me"

"I don't want to talk, I'm playing this"

"Okay well you know where I am if you want me" Rachel said working in a school meant she knew there was no point in forcing a child to talk if they didn't want to

Rachel went back downstairs and had a chat with her Mum whilst Lola had gone to the loo

"Finn alright?" Sue asked

"Not really, he blames me for all of this you know"

"He's just angry, he'll calm down eventually"

"I know I just hate seeing them so upset, I can't believe they're having to go through all of this."

"It's not what you wanted, so if anyone's to blame it's Chris"

"What did Dad say when you told him?"

"He was angry, very very angry but only because you're his daughter and he hates to think of anyone upsetting you"

Sue stayed for a bit longer before leaving them to it. It was about lunchtime when Rachel got a call from Emily's teacher

"Hi is everything okay?"

"It's Emily. She's in the toilet crying and she's refusing to come out"

"Okay, I'm on my way"

Rachel quickly went upstairs to tell Finn she was going out and asked him to keep an eye on Lola before hurrying to the primary school.

The lady at reception showed Rachel to the girl's toilets. Mrs Jones was in there but when she saw Rachel left to give the two of them some space. Rachel could hear her little girl sobbing which pained her inside

"Em, it's Mum. Can you come out for me a second please?"

"I don't want to"

"Please sweetheart, come and give me a cuddle"

Emily knew her Mum wouldn't leave until she came out, so slowly she unlocked the door before walking out to her Mum and immediately collapsing into her arms.

"I should never have let you come in today"

"I just want everything to go back to normal"

"I know you do and it will soon, but at the moment I think you just need a bit of time to come to terms with everything"

"I know I'm sorry I should have listened to you"

"How about we go home now and get some lunch and put some rubbish on TV" Rachel said to which Emily nodded

"Come on then, let's go"

"But look at my face everyone will see I've been crying"

"It's lunchtime so they're all outside anyway"

They were just about to walk out when Mrs Jones came in with Emily's bag.

"Are you going home now Emily?" Mrs Jones asked and Emily nodded

"Okay well here's your bag. Take as much time as you need and we'll see you when you're feeling a bit better"

"Thank you" Rachel said before the two of them walked to reception so Rachel could sign Emily out and then went to the car

Emily suddenly remembered it was Wednesday and she usually went to her tutor on a Wednesday, as she was doing the 11 plus soon in the hope to go to a grammar school next year

"Do I still have to go to my tutor tonight?" Emily asked

"No love, I'll ring her tonight and tell her you can't make it"

"But the test is in a couple of weeks what if I'm not ready in time"

"You've still got all your books and stuff so you can just do a bit extra at the weekend"

"Okay"

When they got home Rachel went into the kitchen to make a start on lunch whilst Emily went upstairs to get changed out of her school uniform

"Emily please can I come in?" Lola asked from Emily's door frame

"Course you can"

"Why did you come home from school early?"

"Because I got a little bit upset"

"Because of Mum and Dad"

"Yeah"

"When are we going to see Dad again?"

"I don't know Lola, we'll just have to wait and see. Just wait until Mum mentions it because she's really upset at the moment"

"I've never seen Mum cry so much" Lola said her eyes glassed with tears

"No me neither, come and give me a cuddle"

Emily and Lola had a nice long cuddle on Emily's bed before deciding to go downstairs to see what Rachel had made for lunch.

"Anyone fancy some pasta for lunch?" Rachel asked

"Yes please Mum" #

"Em?"

"yeah okay"

Rachel cooked some pasta for them all and once it was ready called Finn down

"Is that enough for you?" Rachel asked her son

"Yeah" Finn said before walking out of the kitchen

"Aren't you going to eat with us?"

"No I'll eat in my room"

"Oh okay, well careful not to spill it then"

Rachel sat at the table with her two daughters to have some lunch, but none of them could really eat properly they were just picking at it.

Rachel knew that eventually they would get through all of this, but at that moment she was struggling to see how she was ever going to make her kids as happy as they used to be.

**Please let me know what you think xxx**


	2. Chapter 2

Friday had finally come and Rachel and the kids were all back at school. Rachel had been putting on a brave face at work but this wasn't the case at school. She wished she could appear stronger in front of her children but she just couldn't seem to help it.

"Have a good day girls. It's Friday tonight so we'll do something special yeah?"

"Yeah okay" Emily said very unenthusiastically

"Bye Mum" Lola said and then the two of them left their Mum and walked into their classrooms

Rachel then returned to the car to drive to school. It was unusual Finn not being there, but he'd refused to get a lift with his Mum and Rachel was getting increasingly upset at how much Finn seemed to hate her at the moment.

But Rachel knew she needed to forget about all of these things for a while or she was going to end up having another unproductive day. Slowly, she made her way up to her office and got set up ready for the day.

It was part way through the day when there was a knock at Rachel's office door

"Come in" she called and shortly after Jasmine came in

"Jasmine, what can I do for you?" Rachel asked politely

"I'm afraid I'm having a few issues with Finn" Jasmine informed her

"Right, what's he doing?"

"Well he was sent to the cooler by Miss Haydock for being disruptive, and I can't get him to do any work in there either so I sent him up to you but he refused to go"

"Okay I'll come down and have a word with him then" Rachel said before getting out of her seat and walking down to the cooler with Jasmine

"Finn can I have a quick word outside please?"

"No"

"It wasn't actually a question, outside now"

Finn got up from his desk as loudly as he could before following his Mum out into the corridor

"Do you care to explain to me what's going on?"

"Can't be asked with school today"

"Well that's hardly on. I can't say I'm really in the mood to do any work today but it doesn't mean I can just slack off"

"It was only French, it's hardly like I was going to learn anything important anyway Miss Haydock's a crap teacher"

"Hey I will not have you speak about a member of staff like that it's not on Finn"

"Whatever"

"And I'm not having that attitude either. You can spend the rest of the day in the cooler but I suggest you complete all the work that's set for you because you're not coming home tonight until it's all done"

"Oh my god Mum you're so unfair there really is no wonder Dad left is there?" Finn said before walking back into the cooler

Rachel couldn't say this didn't hurt her. Tears immediately formed in her eyes but she brushed them away straight away before going for a little walk around school.

Rachel was relieved when the end of the day came. She was looking forward to spending some time with the kids and hoping to sort out her issues with Finn. Rachel packed away all of her things before making her way down to the cooler. Finn was the only one left in there so she went over to his desk and stood by him.

"Done all your work?"

"Yep"

"Come on then let's go home"

Finn got up and followed his Mum out to the car. They went to pick up Emily and Lola from their primary school before driving home.

Rachel couldn't believe her eyes when she saw Chris's car on the drive. How dare he just turn up out of the blue. She felt even more angry when they walked into the house to find Chris sat in the lounge.

"Daddy" Lola said running up to Chris where he picked her up

"Hi Princess have you had a good day?"

"Yes thank you Daddy"

"What are you doing here Dad?" Emily asked

"I was just coming over if you three wanted to come and spend the night with me" Chris replied

"What? Hang on a minute that's the first I've heard of it"

"I didn't know I needed your permission to see my kid"

"Well yes you do actually you can't just turn up here whenever the hell you want we might have had plans"

"Do you?"

"Well no but…"

"There's no problem then is there?"

"Kids can you just go upstairs for a few minutes please? I need to talk to your Dad"

The three of them went upstairs to their bedrooms and started to get changed out of their uniforms.

Rachel could feel herself getting angrier at Chris. She didn't want to have to spend the night on her own, she'd been looking forward to their company tonight. They were both shouting at each other and things seemed to be escalating.

Emily could hear her parents shouting downstairs. She hated it so much when they argued. She decided to go and sit on the stairs to see if she could hear what they were shouting about.

Lola came out shortly after who by now was crying because she too hated it when her parents were angry at each other.

"I want to go and see Mummy and Daddy" Lola said to her sister

"Well you can in a minute just not now"

Lola sat down and cuddled into her sister, both of them crying. Finn saw his sisters sat there out of his bedroom door so went over to them. He hated it when either of them were upset.

"Come on you two, it will be okay"

"I don't like it when they argue" Lola sobbed

"I know me neither, I'm sure they'll stop soon" Finn said before sitting the other side of Lola. The three of them sat there just listening to their parents argue and it seemed to go on forever and ever

Eventually Rachel came out of the lounge and saw her three children sat at the top of the stairs. She immediately felt bad, she knew how upset they all got whenever her and Chris fight

"I'm sorry, Mummy and Daddy didn't mean to shout so much"

"What are you so angry about Mummy?" Lola asked

"Nothing for you to worry about love" Rachel said before picking up her youngest daughter and giving her a big cuddle

Anyway you three are going to go and spend the night with your Dad so go and pack up a bag of stuff"

"What now?" Finn asked

"Yep, be quick because your Dad's waiting to go" Rachel said wanting Chris out of the house as soon as possible

Lola and Finn went straight to their rooms to start packing their stuff but Emily just stayed sitting on the stairs.

"Go on then Em, go pack your stuff"

"I don't want to"

"You won't have anything with you for Dad's though"

"No I don't want to go with Dad, I want to stay here with you"

"Don't you worry about me my love, I'll be just fine here. Go on you go and have a nice time with Dad"

"I don't want to go with Dad though, I don't know if I'll like it"

"Yes you do, you've been missing him all week. You'll have a nice time once you get there"

"Please don't make me go Mum"

"Of course I'm not going to make you go if you don't want to sweetheart" Rachel said before sitting on the stair and pulling her daughter into her chest "I just don't want you not to go because you think I'll be lonely, because I promise you I'll be fine"

"I just want to stay here with you tonight Mum"

"Okay love if that's what you want"

Chris soon appeared in the hallway waiting for his children to come down

"You all ready to go Em?" he asked

Emily looked at her Mum, not wanting to be the one to have to tell her Dad

"Emily's not coming, she wants to stay here"

"Oh do you, don't you want to come and spend a bit of time with me"

"Another time, just not tonight Dad" Emily said before going down and giving her Dad a big cuddle

"Okay if that's what you want"

Lola and Finn were soon ready to go so came back downstairs.

"Say bye to your Mum then" Chris said

"Bye Mummy" Lola said going over and wrapping her arms around Rachel's waist

"Bye darling, have a good time and I'll see you tomorrow"

"Okay love you"

"Love you too" Rachel said before letting Lola go with tears in her eyes "bye Finn"

"Bye"

Chris then left with his two children leaving just Rachel and Emily.

Emily was fighting back the tears so darted upstairs as soon as they'd gone not wanting Rachel to see

"Don't you want to sit with me for a bit love?" Rachel asked

"Yeah I'll be back down in sec" Emily said before going into her room and burying her head into her pillow to have a cry

Rachel went into the lounge and sat on the sofa, bringing her knees up to her chest. The tears started to fall down her face and once they started they just wouldn't stop

Emily came down a little while later. She'd stopped crying now, although she did still feel really teary. She walked into the lounge and spotted Rachel crying her eyes out, she hated seeing her Mum so upset

"You going to come and give me a cuddle?" Rachel asked. Emily went over and snuggled into her Mum before starting to cry again

"I don't like it when you're upset Mum" Emily said

"I'm sorry darling, and I'm sorry we're putting you through all of this. It's not fair on you is it?"

"It's not your fault"

The two of them stayed cuddled up for ages.

"Right I reckon we should dry our eyes and then concentrate on having a nice evening just the two of us? What do you think?" Rachel said knowing there was no use in feeling sorry for herself

"Okay" Emily cried

They both went upstairs into Rachel's bedroom where she found a box of tissues so that they could both dry their eyes

"God I look such a mess" Rachel said catching her reflection in her dressing table Mum

"What do you want to do now? Do you want to go out or stay in?"

"Please can we stay in? I don't really feel like going out"

"No me neither, we'll get out tomorrow though. How about I run you a bath love that might make you feel a bit better"

"Yes please Mum"

Rachel went through to the bathroom and started running a bath for her daughter. She put loads of bubbles in and lit some candles around the bath wanting to make it special for her

"Em, your bath's run" Rachel shouted once it was ready

Emily came in and started to get undressed so Rachel left her to it

It felt really quiet it just being the two of them there. Rachel was used to Finn being out quite a lot at his mates or whatever, but it felt weird not having Lola there for the night because the only time Lola usually slept away was if Rachel was going out for the evening

Rachel went downstairs and poured Emily a glass of lemonade in one of the plastic champagne glasses they had before walking back upstairs.

"Em, I got you a drink can I come in?" Rachel asked after knocking on the door

"Yeah" Emily replied so Rachel opened the door and walked in

"Thanks Mum" Emily said smiling

"That's alright love"

Rachel was about to walk back out again when Emily stopped her

"Mum"

"Yeah"

"Please will you wash my hair for me?"

"Course I will"

Rachel started to gently wash her daughter's hair for her, something she hadn't done for ages because Emily always did it herself now.

It was nice for Emily and it really was making her feel a lot happier. Her Mum always was the one who could cheer her up a bit no matter how down she was feeling

After her bath Emily got into her pyjamas before going into her Mum's room to dry her hair

"Five o clock and already in your pyjamas" Rachel laughed "think I might do the same though mind you"

Emily started to dry her hair so Rachel got changed into her pyjamas and took her make up off wanting to be as comfy as possible.

Rachel stood behind her daughter as she dried her hair. Looking at Emily in the mirror was almost like looking at her 11 year old self.

"You're very beautiful you know, have I told you that before?"

"Yeah just a few times Mum" Emily laughed "not at the minute though look how red and puffy my face is"

"That's just because you've been crying, mines exactly the same look"

"Mum can we put those face masks on again like we did the other week"

"That sounds like a good idea I think I've got some in the cupboard, we can have a girly night doing nails and stuff"

The two of them went downstairs into the lounge and put the TV on. The last thing Rachel felt like doing was cooking tonight so they both just had a fish finger sandwich for tea.

Once they'd eaten Rachel went upstairs and brought a load of stuff down. She applied a face mask to her daughter's face and then Emily did the same for her Mum, before they put a film on.

Rachel really enjoyed spending time with just Emily and by the end of it they were both feeling considerably better than what they had been a few hours ago.

Emily was snuggled into her Mum with a blanket over the top of them when the house phone started to ring

"I suppose I'd better answer that" Rachel sighed but really she didn't feel like getting up

She was glad she did answer it though because it was Lola on the phone

"Hi Mummy" Lola said

"Hi darling, are you having a good time"

"Yeah I'm just ringing to say goodnight to you because I'm going to bed now"

"Oh okay, well sleep tight sweetheart"

"I miss you Mummy" Lola cried

"Oh Lola I miss you too but it's okay because I know I get to see you very soon"

"I know but it feels strange you not tucking me in"

"Daddy's there though to tuck you in"

"I know but it doesn't feel the same"

"It will be okay, and I can tuck you in tomorrow night can't I? Anyway I'll let you go so you can go to sleep now"

"Okay, goodnight Mummy"

"Night sweetheart, love you millions and millions"

"Love you more"

"Bye, hang on a second do you want to see if Finn wants to speak to me"

"Okay" Lola said before asking Finn if he wanted to speak to Rachel "he said he doesn't want to"

"Oh okay then, well tell him I say goodnight then"

"Bye Mum" Lola said before hanging up the phone

Rachel could feel herself getting upset again but quickly dismissed her tears not wanting to get upset in front of Emily again

Rachel went back into the lounge and they finished watching the film

"Right, are you ready to go up to bed now?" Rachel asked to which Emily nodded her head so they both went upstairs

Emily quickly brushed her teeth and went to the loo before jumping into bed where Rachel was waiting to tuck her in

"Night Em, see you in the morning"

"Night Mum"

Rachel kissed her daughter on the forehead before turning off her lamp and going into her own bedroom

Emily fell asleep relatively quickly but woke up again in the middle of the night. She laid there for ages trying to get back to sleep but she just couldn't seem to. In the end she decided to go in and see Rachel.

Emily walked across the landing and gently pushed open the door into her Mum's room

"Mum" Emily whispered to see if she was awake but when she got no reply just climbed in next to her and wrapped her arms around her Mum

Although Rachel was asleep she was in a very light sleep so felt Emily put her arms around her

"Hey love" Rachel said sleepily

"Sorry I didn't mean to wake you"

"That's alright, can you not sleep?"

"No"

"Have you been to sleep at all yet?"

"Yeah but I just woke up and now I can't get back to sleep"

"Well that's not very good is it" Rachel said sitting up in bed a little bit "too much on your mind?"

"Probably"

"It took me a while to go to sleep too. Just close your eyes and try and think of nice things then hopefully you'll go to sleep soon"

Emily closed her eyes but then she felt Rachel get out of bed so quickly opened them again

"Where are you going Mum?" Emily asked

"I'm just going to the loo" Rachel said before quickly going into her en suite and returning a minute or so later

By this point Emily was sat bolt up in bed

"I thought you were trying to get back to sleep" Rachel said

"I can't, I don't feel tired"

"Let's go downstairs for a bit then nothing worse than lying in bed when you can't sleep" Rachel said before wrapping her dressing gown around her and then going downstairs

Rachel got them a glass of water each before going to sit in the lounge with her daughter

"Mum is Finn really angry with you?"

"He seems to be a bit at the moment doesn't he? I think he's just a bit upset though"

"I don't like it when he's horrible to you, he shouldn't be"

"I'm sure he'll get over it soon, well hopefully he will anyway"

"Can we all go out somewhere tomorrow when Lola and Finn come home?"

"I should think so where do you fancy?"

"Can we go to the beach? And can Grandma and Grandad come too?"

"I'll have to ask them if they want to come but I don't think they're doing anything so they should say yes"

"I like it at the beach"

"I know you do, me too"

The two of them stayed chatting for a bit longer until Emily let out a big yawn

"Feeling a bit more tired now?" Rachel asked

"Yeah I think I'll be able to get to sleep now" Emily replied so the two of them went back upstairs.

Rachel went in with Emily and got her all comfy in bed and then went back into her own bed. Luckily the two of them both slept right through until the morning after that.

Rachel got up quite early as usual and got straight in the shower. The kids had had a really rough few days so she was determined to make today good and happy. She also promised to herself not to argue with Chris when he dropped Finn and Lola back because she knew upset his made everyone feel.

After a while Rachel got out of the shower and wrapped a towel around her body before going into her own bedroom where Emily was sat on her bed.

"Oh morning love I didn't realise that you were up yet" Rachel said

"I just woke up, I came in to give you a cuddle but you were already out of bed"

"Oh sorry Em, if only you were 5 minutes earlier"

Chris dropped Lola and Finn home at about 11. Lola ran straight up to her Mum and gave her a big cuddle

"I missed you Mum" Lola said

"I missed you too, did you have a good time with Dad though?"

"Yeah it was really good we got to stay in a hotel and everything"

"Wow that sounds like fun"

"Yeah but Dad said next time we come to stay he'll have his own place to live"

"Well me and Daddy will have to sort out when that is won't we?" Rachel said exchanging a small glance with Chris

Whilst Chris was there, both Rachel and Chris made a big effort to try and be civil with the kids which Rachel was extremely grateful for.

Chris stayed for a little bit before collecting a few more things and then leaving again. They were all really sad to see him go but Rachel soon cheered them up with the prospect of going to the beach.

"You didn't have any plans today did you Finn?" Rachel asked

"I was going to go out with my friends but I'd rather come to the beach with you" Finn said in the nicest voice he's spoken to Rachel in all week

"Okay but only if you're sure I don't want to stop you having a good time with your friends"

"It's okay I can always see them when we get back"

"Lola, Emily can you just go out for me a second please? I want to have a quick chat with your brother"

As soon as his sisters had gone out Finn decided it would be the perfect opportunity to apologise to his Mum

"Mum I'm really sorry about how horrible I've been to you all week"

"You don't need to apologise, I know you were hurting and you were just looking for someone to blame"

"But that person wasn't you. I know it's not your fault that Dad left and I really am sorry. I don't know why but being with Dad last night just made me realise how horrid I've been to you and I felt really bad"

"Oh Finn, it really doesn't matter now. I just hated seeing you so down. I know we're all got a really tough time ahead of us so we just need to all stick together and help one another through it"

"I know. So do you forgive me?"

"Of course I forgive you, come and give me a cuddle"

"Really Mum?"

"Yeah, I know you're 13 but you'll never be too old for a cuddle with Mummy" Rachel said before wrapping her arms around her son, so pleased to have the kind Finn she knew back

Rachel then went upstairs to see Lola for a bit. She unpacked her bag for her and then sat on her bed

"Did Dad give you a bath last night?" Rachel asked

"No, he said we didn't need to bother because it was a Friday"

"I thought he might have said that. We'll just give you one later now though shall we when we get back from the beach?"

"Yeah okay. When are we going?"

"Grandma and Grandad are coming over in about half an hour, so then we'll leave after that"

"I didn't know Grandma and Grandad were coming"

"Yep I rang them up this morning"

Sue and David came a little while later. Sue was so pleased that her daughter seemed a bit happier than what she'd seemed for the past few days. It was awful for Sue and David seeing their daughter and grandkids having to go through all of this, especially when there wasn't really much they could do to make them feel any better.

"Grandma will you French plait my hair for me please?" Lola asked she always loved it when her Grandma did this

"Of course I will go and get me a come and a hairband then"

Sue quickly did Lola's hair for her and then they got in the cars ready to drive to the beach.

They all had a really good day on the beach together but everyone was so tired when they got home again. Finn even decided not to go out with his friends because he was so exhausted after running around all day.

**Please review xxx**


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

It was a Wednesday and Rachel was stood in the playground at Lola and Emily's primary school waiting to pick them up. She was chatting to some of the other Mum's when she spotted her youngest daughter coming out of school, running towards her.

"Hi Lola" Rachel said once she'd come over

"Hi please can we go now Mum?"

"Well we need to wait for Emily to come around first"

"Can't we go and wait outside her classroom today then?"

"Why love?"

"Urmm.. so that then I can play on the climbing frame outside her classroom"

"Okay, I don't see why not" Rachel said taking hold of Lola's hands

Rachel briefly said goodbye to the Mum's she was talking to but Lola was pulling at her hand so practically dragged her away

"You seem in a bit of a rush today Lola, is everything okay?"

"Yeah I already told you I just want to play on the climbing frame for a bit"

"Okay okay you get to play on it every day at school though so I really don't see why you want to go on it again"

"I just do"

Rachel and Lola walked around to the other side of the school so Lola rushed off to play with some of the other children on the climbing frame. Rachel waited and it wasn't long before Emily was out

"Hi Mum" Emily said smiling. It was nice to see her daughter so happy Rachel thought to herself

"Hi Em, have you had a good day?"

"Yeah good thanks"

"Good, you wouldn't do me a favour and go and get your sister from that climbing frame would you?"

"Yeah sure" Emily said before passing her school bag to her Mum and going to get Lola

Once Emily and Lola had returned to their Mum the three of them made their way home.

"Go upstairs and get changed girls and I'll get you both a drink and something to eat"

Emily and Lola went upstairs and got changed before coming down to sit at the kitchen table with their Mum.

"We need to leave in about 15 minutes. Lola I need a few bits in town so we'll do that whilst Em's at her tutor, okay?"

"Okay Mum"

It was soon time to leave to drop Emily at her tutor's house so they all went back to get into the car. They dropped Emily off and then drove into town and parked the car.

It didn't take long for Rachel to get everything that she needed so they decided to just have a look around the shops.

"This top's nice Lola, do you like it?" Rachel asked holding up a top against her daughter

"Yeah it's really pretty, can I try it on?"

It was only a little shop so there was only one changing room and there was already someone in it.

"Do you want to just try it on out here, someone's just gone in and it looked like they had quite a lot of stuff to try on" Rachel suggested trying to save time

"I can't try it on out here everyone will see me getting changed"

"No they won't just take your top off and I'll slip it over your head, no-one will even notice"

"Fine"

"Good girl, we'll just go round here then"

Lola tried on the top and really liked it so Rachel bought it for her. By this point Lola said her legs were starting to ache from walking around all day so they decided to go for a quick drink.

After Rachel had finished her coffee and Lola her hot chocolate they went to pick up Emily and then went home again.

"Mum please can I go to Ben's house when we get home?" Lola asked

"Yeah okay, be back for tea at 6 though"

Rachel pulled up on the drive and they all got out the car. Lola went straight over to Ben's house, the little boy who lived next door, so Rachel and Emily went into the house

"Do you fancy giving me a hand with tea or have you got homework to do?" Rachel asked

"I'll help you I don't need to do any homework tonight" Emily replied

"Thanks love"

They went into the kitchen and Emily started to chop up some veg whilst Rachel made the cheeses sauce for the lasagne.

"Anything exciting on at school today?"

"No nothing exciting just the usual"

"How about your sex ed lessons, how was it today?" Rachel asked

"It was fine" Emily replied her cheeks flushing slightly

"What did you talk about today?"

"Urmm.. puberty and stuff" Emily said her cheeks turning even redder

"Any questions you had that you wanted to ask me about?"

"Mum. Do we have to talk about this it's really embarrassing"

"No we don't have to but I just thought I'd check in case there was anything you felt unsure about"

"There's nothing"

"Okay" Rachel said before deciding to change the subject seeing how uncomfortable her daughter was feeling "how did you get on tonight with your tutor?"

"Not too bad, I can't believe how quickly the exam is coming around now"

"I know but at least it will all be over soon"

"What if I'm not ready in time though Mum"

"If you're not ready you're not ready, there's no point in stressing over it love you can only do what you can do"

"I know"

They continued to chat until they got the lasagne in the oven before laying the table.

Lola was back in by six like she had been told. Finn, on the other hand, still wasn't home despite promising Rachel he'd be back on time tonight.

"Well I guess we'll just go on and eat without him, his fault if it's not still warm when he gets in" Rachel said to Emily and Lola before starting to dish out

She gave the girls their plates and put the garlic on the table before sitting down at the table too. They'd been eating for about five minutes when Rachel heard the front door open so knew it must be Finn home.

"I'm home" Finn called

"We're in the kitchen" Rachel shouted and Finn came through shortly

"Sorry I'm late I…"

"Got lost track of the time, yeah yeah I've heard it all before" Rachel said but she didn't really mind he was only 10 minutes late after all "your tea's in the oven can you get it out or do you want me to?"

"It's okay I can do it"

Finn quickly got his lasagne out of the oven before sitting down at the table with them.

"Good day at school?" Rachel asked her son

"Good as school can be" Finn replied

Rachel was about to respond when the phone started to ring so she got up from the table to answer it.

Lola immediately began to worry as soon as she heard the phone ringing, she was sure it was going to be her teacher ringing up to tell Rachel about everything Lola had done at school today. Lola didn't think she'd ever had such a bad day at school and the last thing she wanted was for her Mum to find out.

For Lola it seemed like Rachel was gone forever but she couldn't help but feel more worried when her Mum returned to the room

"Who was that?" Lola asked instantly

"It was Grandma"

"What did she want?" Emily asked

"Just asking if we all wanted to come over for tea tomorrow night as soon as Grandma's picking you two up from school tomorrow because I've got Lola's parents evening"

Lola couldn't believe she'd forgotten about her parents evening tomorrow. Her Mum was obviously going to find out now so she was going to be in so much trouble. Lola was by no means a quiet girl so was always being told to stop talking in class but Rachel knew about this. However it was rare that Lola ever got into big trouble and she hated it whenever Rachel shouted at her because she'd been really naughty.

After they'd eaten Rachel got some ice cream out of the freezer and was shocked at how little Lola had eaten of it

"What's wrong with your ice cream Lola?" Rachel asked as normally whenever she was given ice cream she ate so much that she made herself feel sick

"Nothing I'm just quite full" Lola said which was true, ever since realising that it was parents evening tomorrow she'd suddenly lost her appetite

"Well I never thought I'd see the day that you were too full for ice cream" Rachel laughed

"Mum please can I get down now, I feel a bit sick" Lola said

"Oh do you? Yeah course you can love go and lie down on the sofa or something, I'll be in soon to check on you"

"Okay" Lola said before scraping her remaining ice cream in the bin and then putting her bowl in the dish washer. She then made her way into the lounge and laid down wondering about whether or not to just tell her Mum about what had happened today at school

Once everyone else had finished eating their ice cream Rachel quickly cleared up the kitchen with a bit of help from Finn and Emily before going into check on her youngest daughter

"How you feeling darling?" Rachel asked going over to sit with her daughter

"A bit better now thank you"

"Good, hope it wasn't my cooking that made you feel rubbish"

"No I don't think so the lasagne was really yummy"

Rachel flicked the TV on for them both to watch and was pleased when both of her other children came into join them as well. Quite often Finn would spend the evening up in his bedroom on his xbox or talking to his mates so Rachel always did make the most of his company whenever she got the chance.

It got to about 8 and Rachel decided it was time to get Lola in the bath. Lola had been really quiet all evening and quite subdued but Rachel presumed she just wasn't feeling too great still.

"Right, time to get you in the bath missus" Rachel said

Lola got up straight away and followed her Mum upstairs. She waited whilst her Mum ran the bath for her and then got undressed before climbing into the bath

When her Mum started to massage the shampoo into her head it made her start to relax a bit, her Mum always did make her feel better even if it was just by being there.

"Mum if I ever did something really really naughty would you kick me out?"

"Kick you out? Of course not. No matter how bad the thing you did was I'd never dream of kicking you out not in a million years. Whatever made you ask that?"

"No reason I was just wondering"

"You haven't done something naughty have you?"

"No" Lola said immediately "it was only a question"

"Okay. But even if you had all you'd need to do is tell me and I'm sure we'd be able to work it out, even if I was a bit angry to start with"

"I know, can I get out now? I want to go to bed"

"Yeah I'll just rinse the conditioner off" Rachel said before turning the shower on and quickly washing out the conditioner. She then held up a towel for Lola who stepped out of the bath into the fluffy warm towel that her Mum was holding up for her

Lola walked into her bedroom and sat on her bed waiting for Rachel to come in.

Rachel saw Lola looking very worried when she went in so sat by her on the bed.

"Is there something going on you want to talk to me about?" Rachel asked her daughter quietly to which she shook her head

"You sure?" Rachel asked and Lola nodded

"Okay, come on let's get you into your pyjamas and dry your hair" Rachel said, she was sure there was something going on with her daughter but she also knew that she wasn't planning on telling Rachel about it anytime soon so decided to just leave it and hope she'd tell her when she was ready

Rachel got Lola sorted and then got her into bed.

"Night sweetheart and just remember you can always tell me anything, even if you think it's going to make me angry or upset or disappointed, it's better than keeping it to yourself"

"I know but there's nothing, night Mum" Lola said before rolling over to face away from her Mum so that Rachel couldn't see the tears that had started to form in her eyes

"Okay night then darling"

"Love you"

"Love you more" Rachel said before giving her daughter a kiss and then walking out

Rachel went back downstairs and watched TV for a bit longer with Emily and Finn but then realised it was about time Emily was getting to bed too

"Time for bed Em" Rachel said

"Okay"

Emily went upstairs into the bathroom and brushed her teeth and washed her face before going into her bedroom to get undressed.

Once she was ready for bed she shouted to Rachel who came in a little while later to say goodnight. Rachel had decided to put her pyjamas on and take her make up off whilst she was upstairs

"What's that?" Emily asked seeing that her Mum was carrying a book

"Oh, well I know you wanted me to stop talking about it but I bought you a book the other day about all the changed that are going to be happening to you but I just keep forgetting to give it to you"

"Thanks" Emily sad taking the book off her Mum, again feeling a bit awkward

"Mum"

"Yes love"

"I do have one question" Emily said, it was something she had been wondering but she just didn't know whether to ask her Mum or not

"Okay, go on" Rachel said sitting down on Emily's bed

"How old were you when you started your periods because Mrs Jones said that sometimes the age your Mum started might be when you start too"

"Well I was quite young, 11, but I did start to develop quite early" Rachel told her daughter

"11? But I'm 11 so does that mean I might start soon?" Emily asked sounding worried

"Possibly, I was nearly 12 though. And just because I started when I was 11 doesn't mean you will too"

"I hope I'm not 11, I don't want to start yet"

"I know you don't but there's no point worrying about it darling, it will happen when it happens and there's nothing you can do to make it happen any less quickly. But when it comes we'll deal with it together, okay?"

"Okay"

"See that wasn't so bad was it? Talking to me about it"

"I guess not, it is still embarrassing though"

"Well I want you to be able to talk to me about these things, I'm your Mum so you don't need to feel embarrassed in front of me"

"I know, please can I go to sleep now Mum?" Emily asked desperate to change the subject now

"Course you can, night darling love you lots"

"Love you too"

Rachel turned the light out on the way out before going downstairs where much to her surprise Finn was still sitting in the lounge.

"This is nice having you all to myself for a change" Rachel said and Finn smiled

Rachel really enjoyed spending some time with Finn. After a while Rachel began to get a bit tired so they both went upstairs.

"Night Finn" Rachel said to her son

"Night Mum" Finn replied before going into his bedroom and closing the door

Rachel then went into her room and cleaned her teeth before climbing into bed. It still felt quite lonely without Chris there but she was slowly getting used to it, plus she didn't have to put up with his snoring anymore.

Rachel read a few chapters of her book before turning the lamp off and turning over to go to sleep.

It was the middle of the night and Rachel had just got back into bed after going to the loo. She'd just closed her eyes ready to go back to sleep again when she heard someone walking across the landing. She presumed it must be one of the kid's going to the loo or something so didn't make much of it, however when she heard them walking down the stairs she decided to go and check that everything was okay.

When she walked out on the landing she realised that it was her youngest daughter so she quietly said "Lola where are you going?" however there was no response from Lola

When Rachel walked over closer to her she realised that her daughter was sleepwalking, something that she only ever did when she was worked up about something.

Rachel knew it was best not to wake her as she didn't want to scare her, however she also didn't want her to end up hurting herself or anything so just followed her.

When Lola reached the bottom of the stairs she woke up and unsurprisingly felt really disorientated because she had no idea where she was.

She started to call out for Rachel but then realised that her Mum was stood right behind her.

"Shhh, it's okay darling" Rachel said coming over and wrapping her arms around her daughter "we're just downstairs because you've been sleepwalking"

"I don't like it down here when it's all dark"

"Nothing to be scared of my love, look it's all the same" Rachel said turning on the light to make her feel a bit better "anyway should we get you back up to bed?"

"Okay"

Rachel took hold of Lola's hand and they walked upstairs. She began to lead Lola into her own bedroom but Lola quickly stopped her

"Please can I come in with you Mum, just for tonight?"

Rachel didn't bother putting up a fight as she was a bit worried about her daughter at the moment and was wondering what it was that she was keeping to herself.

"Okay but tomorrow you're back in your own bed, got that?"

"Yep"

The two of them went and got into Rachel's king size bed and got comfy.

"Do you remember what you were dreaming about?" Rachel asked and Lola shook her head

"Are you sure there's nothing bothering you love? It's just you've been awfully quiet all night and you don't normally sleepwalk unless you're a bit upset about something?"

"I already told you I'm fine Mum"

"You're not missing Daddy or anything? Because you can tell me if you are"

"No, Mum please can I go to the toilet"

"Yep" Rachel sighed realising she still wasn't getting anywhere with her daughter

Lola jumped out of bed because she could feel tears starting to form in her eyes because she was still feeling really scared about what Rachel would do when she found out and she didn't want her Mum to see her crying.

She went into Rachel's bathroom and quickly closed the door behind her. Normally at night time she wouldn't bother to close the door so this made Rachel worry even more about her.

When Lola still hadn't returned to bed a couple of minutes later Rachel decided to get out to go and check on her

She went over and knocked on the door to her en suite "Lola is everything okay in there?"

"Yeah I'm just on the toilet" Lola lied, when actually she was stood at the sink trying to stop crying but she just couldn't seem to

"Are you still not feeling very well?"

"No not really" Lola said thinking that this might be a good excuse as to why she was crying

"Can I come in darling?" Rachel asked sounding worried

"Okay then"

Rachel opened the door and was shocked to see her daughter stood there with such a tearstained face

"Oh sweetheart, come here" Rachel said picking up her daughter and putting her on her hip where Lola buried her head into her Mum's shoulder and started to cry even more

Rachel carried her back into bed but Lola stayed snuggled into her Mum's chest.

They stayed like that for a few minutes, Rachel letting Lola have a cry

"That's it darling, you have a good cry let it all out"

"Now do you know what I'd really like Lola?"

"What?"

"For you to tell me what's bothering you and don't bother saying that you're fine because you're clearly not"

Lola thought for a moment dithering about whether or not to just tell her Mum. She'd been thinking of ways all night of how to keep it from her Mum, but she knew this was going to be virtually impossible what with parents evening tomorrow

"If I tell you do you promise you won't get really really angry with me?"

"How could I possibly be angry with you when you're this upset, hmm?"

Lola waited for a bit before eventually saying "I got told off today at school"

"Oh did you love? Well I'm sure it wasn't for anything too terrible"

"No it was Miss Smith was really angry with me"

"Well do you want to tell me what it was that you did?"

"I don't know why but I was feeling a bit upset so I asked to go to the toilet and I stayed in there for ages until lunchtime so then Miss Smith had to come looking for me and said that I should have been in class"

"Well that doesn't seem too awful"

"That's not it, I stayed in there at lunchtime because I just wanted to be on my own for a bit longer and these horrible girls from my class came in and started winding me up so then I hit one of them" Lola said before bursting into tears again and then turning away from her Mum.

"Oh Lola, face me a second darling"

"I'm really sorry Mum I didn't mean to do it I just got really angry because they wouldn't leave me alone"

"Obviously that wasn't a very nice thing to do but I really don't think it's worth getting this upset about, do you?"

"I suppose not but I didn't want you to shout at me too like Miss Smith did"

Rachel didn't really like Lola's teacher in all honesty, she thought she was a bit stuck up and not very sympathetic so was glad that Lola would be getting a new teacher next year

"I'll have a word with Miss Smith tomorrow at parents evening and tell her what really happened, because by the sounds of it she didn't hear the full story"

"No she wouldn't listen to what I had to say"

"But next time if they're winding you up again, just walk away and tell a teacher"

"But Miss Smith probably wouldn't believe me"

"I'm sure she would, she's got no reason not to, but if you don't want to tell her tell a different teacher or just wait until you get home and tell me"

"Okay Mummy, are you going to ground me like you did Finn when he got into a fight at school"

"No I already know how sorry you are about it so I don't really think that you need to be punished, do you?"

"I suppose not"

"Anyway are you ready to go back to sleep now?"

"Yeah"

"Okay, I'll just get a tissue first to dry those eyes" Rachel said before going into the bathroom to get some toilet roll to clean up Lola's face

It was unusual for Lola to not come straight to Rachel, normally she never kept anything from her unlike Emily, but Rachel was just glad that she knew what was bothering her daughter so much now.

It didn't take long for Lola to fall back asleep now feeling considerably calmer and happier than what she had been earlier. Her Mum always made her feel so much better.

Please review xxxxx


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

It was a Saturday morning but also the day of Emily's 11+. She'd had an awful nights sleep because she was so worried about it. Rachel had even found her in the middle of the night at the kitchen table with all her books out still trying to revise.

Rachel felt mean waking her daughter up now when she looked so peaceful, especially when she knew she hadn't had very much sleep.

"Em, it's time to get up" Rachel said as she sat by Emily gently stroking her face

"Morning" Emily said as she opened her eyes

"How you feeling?"

"Okay, but I just want it to be over now"

"I know, just think in a few hours it all will be. Hurry up and get dressed and I'm going to go and make you some porridge"

"Do I have to have porridge? Can't you make pancakes like you normally do on Saturday?"

"No you need a good breakfast today"

Rachel went downstairs leaving Emily to get ready.

Emily came downstairs a little while later and sat at the table with Lola to have her breakfast. Rachel noticed that her daughter was looking very pale and also had dark circles around her eyes.

Rachel sat down next to her and took hold of Emily's hand

"Please don't go getting yourself worked up about this Em, I'm so proud of you already for all of the hard work you've been putting in, no matter what the result. Okay?"

"I know, it's just what if I'm the only one out of all of my friends who don't get in? Then I'll be really lonely next year and I'll have no friends"

"Hey, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it if we have to. Besides even if that was the case you'd make friends really quickly, most people change friendship groups when they go up to secondary school anyway because you meet so many new people"

"Why don't you think you'll pass? You're really clever" Lola said

Emily couldn't help but smile at her little sister's comment, "Thanks Lola"

It was only the girls at home as Finn had slept at his friend's house last night, so once everyone was ready the three of them got into the car and drove to the place where Emily was doing her test.

Most of her friends were already there with their parents so Rachel, Emily and Lola went over to stand with them. The girls all started chatting but it was obvious how worried they all were.

It was soon time for them all to go inside, so Rachel wished her daughter good luck before going back to the car with Lola.

"Right, Emily's going to be a few hours so what do you fancy doing?" Rachel asked

"Can we go and see Grandma and Grandad?"

"Well we're going there for lunch when Emily's done so we'll just wait until later to see them shall we?"

"Can we go to the park then?"

"I would think so" Rachel said before driving to a park

Rachel had a picnic blanket in the boot of the car so decided to get it out to sit on whilst Lola played.

Rachel put the blanket on the grass and got her book out to read whilst Lola went off to play. They hadn't been sat there for long when Rachel realised that she really could do with going to the loo.

She picked up her bag and walked into the play area where Lola was

"Lola I need to go to the loo" Rachel told her daughter discretely

"I don't need to go so can I stay here please?"

"No you come with me I can't see you from the toilets, I won't be long anyway"

"Fine" Lola sighed before going with her Mum to the toilets

"Are you going to go whilst we're here?" Rachel asked to which Lola shook her head

"You just as well hadn't you?"

"I already told you I don't need to go"

"Okay" Rachel said. Lola was quite a stubborn girl, something she got from her mother

Rachel went to the loo and then came out to wash her hands. She then got her lipstick out of her bag as she realised she hadn't put any on today

"Come on Mum, you said we wouldn't be long" Lola moaned

"Okay, I'm coming" Rachel said quickly putting her lipstick on and then walking out

When they got back to the park one of Lola's friends was in there with her Mum so Lola quickly went over and started playing with her.

Rachel went back and sat back on the blanket thinking about how Emily was getting on, she couldn't help but worry. She knew how devastated Emily would be if it didn't go as well as she was hoping

They'd been there for quite a while when Lola came back over to her Mum and Rachel realised that she walking a bit funnily

"Everything alright love?" Rachel asked

"Mum quick I need a wee"

"Okay" Rachel said getting up sensing the urgency in Lola's voice "I told you you should have gone while we were in there anyway"

"Quick Mum, I'm bursting" Lola said

They ended up having to run over because else Lola knew that she wasn't going to make it

As soon as they got to the toilet block Lola rushed in the cubicle and locked the door

Lola came out again a minute or so later and Rachel noticed her looking a bit upset

"What's wrong?" Rachel asked

"Nothing" Lola replied feeling a bit embarrassed

"Come on tell me, it's only me and you in here"

"I did a little dribble in my knickers" Lola admitted

"That's alright darling, just don't leave it so late next time"

"But I was having fun"

"I know, but you don't want to have an accident do you? Anyway we need to get going now, it's nearly time to pick your sister up"

Rachel and Lola went to pick up Emily. They were a bit early so just sat on the grass outside for a bit as the weather was really nice.

It wasn't long before the girls began to come out. Rachel was looking out for Emily but it was hard to see her because there were so many girls there.

Emily spotted her Mum so came rushing over.

"Hi sweetheart, how was it?" Rachel asked

As soon as Emily was near her Mum she immediately burst into tears. She didn't want to cry in front of everyone but after seeing her Mum she just couldn't help it.

Rachel instantly wrapped her arms around her daughter giving her a much needed cuddle

"It was awful Mum, it was so hard. I've done so badly"

"Even if you had, you've still done your best and…" Rachel began but Emily cut her off

"I'm so stupid I don't know why I even wanted to do the eleven plus, I'm obviously not clever enough"

"Hey don't let me hear you talking like that, you know as well as I do that you're a very smart girl so no matter what school you end up going to you're going to do so well, honestly sweetheart you are"

"Can we just go now?" Emily asked not wanting everyone to see her crying her eyes out

"Of course we can, remember we're going to Grandma's for lunch?"

"Oh I completely forgot about that, do we have to Mum? I really don't feel like facing anyone yet"

"Don't be silly, you've got nothing to be ashamed about. You tried your best and that's that"

They got back in the car and Rachel drove to her parent's house. Emily didn't stop crying the whole way there so when they arrived her eyes were all red and puffy.

Rachel saw her sister's car was there too.

"You go on in Lola, tell them me and Em will be in soon"

Lola got out of the car and skipped into her grandparent's house.

Rachel reached into her bag to find her pack of tissues before passing one to Emily

"Dry your eyes love, everything's going to be fine I promise"

Emily dried her eyes but she still felt extremely tearful.

They got out of the car and they were just about at the front door when Rachel noticed Emily's eyes filled with tears.

"Do you want to stay out here for five minutes love? Have five minutes to calm down a bit?" Rachel asked knowing Emily wouldn't want everyone seeing her when she was crying

"Yes please"

"Okay, you just come in when you're ready"

Rachel went in and said hello to everyone. She also told them not to mention anything about the eleven plus knowing Emily wouldn't want everyone making a big thing of it

Rachel helped her Mum take everything into the table whilst Mel sat in the garden in the sun with Amber, her fifteen year old daughter, and Phil was left looking after Rosie, Mel's 6 month old baby.

Eventually Emily came into the house too. You could still tell she'd been crying but Rachel was pleased to see she looked a bit happier.

It wasn't long before Finn arrived too so they all sat round the table to eat.

It was nice for them all to be together and they had a nice lunch. Once they'd all finished Sue and Rachel stood up to start clearing the table

"You sit down for a bit Rach honestly you can't sit still for two minutes, your Dad can help me"

"I don't mind Mum, you did all of the cooking so it should be you sitting down not me"

"I know you don't do it often, but listen to your mother just this once and sit down"

"Okay okay" Rachel said before sitting down

Sue and Paul cleared the table along with some help from Emily and Amber too.

"Oh Rach would you be able to babysit for me tonight?" Mel asked

"Really Mel, again? This is the third weekend in a row that you've been out now"

"Just because you hardly ever go out anymore it doesn't mean I can't"

"Well I'd say the fact you have a six month old baby might be something to stop you"

"Come on Rach, its friend's birthday I don't want to miss it. The kids will be no problem, Amber's got a party tonight anyway and you know Phil will help out with Rosie"

"You know I don't mind looking after them, in fact I always love it when they come to stay, but I'm just saying I think you need to stop going out so much and start being more responsible"

"Well I'm sorry that I'm not perfect like you Rach"

By the time Sue returned to the dining room she was upset to hear her daughter's having yet another argument. Most of the time Rachel and Mel got on quite well but sometimes Mel's lack of responsibility got to Rachel

"Come on girls that's enough. You've both had your say just leave it at that, yeah?"

Rachel was about to say something else to Mel, despite what her Mum had said, when she saw Emily run out of the room and Rachel was almost certain she was crying.

Rachel went out of the room to go and check on her daughter, thinking she must be upset about her eleven plus again.

She got to the bathroom upstairs and realised the door was locked

"Em, it's Mum is everything alright?"

"Yeah I'm just going to the loo" Emily said but Rachel could tell that her daughter was crying

"Are you okay, you sound a bit upset?"

"No I'm fine"

Rachel waited outside until Emily came out. When she did come out it was obvious that she'd been crying

"Oh sweetheart, are you upset about the exam again?"

"No it's not that" Emily said getting upset again

"What is it then?"

"I just don't like it when you and Auntie Mel fight"

"I'm sorry we shouldn't have done it in front of you, but you don't need to worry about me and Mel we're just being silly"

"I know I just wish you got on better"

"We get on most of the time, don't we?"

"I guess"

Rachel gave her daughter another cuddle. She'd always been a very sensitive girl but she seemed to becoming even more so now. Rachel had just put it down to the age she was at though.

Rachel went back downstairs with her daughter knowing she needed to make more of an effort to get on with Mel, she wasn't about to apologise for the things that she's said though.

"I'll babysit for you tonight Mel, but next weekend I really do think you should stay in with the kids"

"Thanks Rach, I'll bring them around at about 4. You know give me chance to get ready and stuff"

Rachel rolled her eyes but said that was fine.

They stayed at Sue and Paul's for a bit longer in the garden before deciding to get home again.

Rachel went home and got on with a few jobs knowing she wasn't going to get a lot of chance later, things were always a bit hectic whenever Mel's kids were over too.

As she said, Mel came over at about four with Phil, Amber and Rosie.

"Thanks for this again Rach" Mel said when she was about to go

"It's fine, have a good time"

Mel said bye to her children and was then quick to get going.

Rachel decided to get on with tea just to get it out the way, she knew no-one would want much though because they'd had quite a big lunch.

She put Rosie in the bouncy chair in the kitchen whilst she started cooking.

Amber went upstairs to put her stuff in Emily's room. She always shared with Emily whenever she stayed over, she had a double bed anyway.

"Will you do my nails and stuff for me tonight Amber?" Emily asked, she always liked it when her older cousin stayed over

"I'm going to a party tonight sorry Em"

"Oh" Emily replied sounding disappointed

Amber picked up on this so said "I might be able to do them before I go and you can do my hair for me if you like"

"Okay, thanks Amber"

The two of them stayed up in Emily's room until Rachel called them all down for tea.

Rachel gave Rosie her baby food whilst everyone else ate

"Mum why can't Rosie eat the same stuff as us? Why is her food always yucky and runny?"

"Because she's a baby love and she has no teeth yet"

"So did I used to eat food like that?"

"Yeah when you were a baby"

"It looks disgusting though"

"It probably does now, yeah you used to love it when you were a baby though"

Amber ate hers really quickly before going to put her plate in the dishwasher

"Where do you think you're going young lady? Everyone else is still eating in case you hadn't noticed"

"I know but I'm not going to be ready in time, I've still got to have a shower and wash my hair and everything"

"Fine, you can be excused, just this once though"

"Thanks Rach" Amber said before rushing upstairs to start getting ready

Once the kids had all finished eating Rachel let them leave the table. She kept Rosie with her though whilst she ate her tea. Rachel was only halfway through her tea when Rosie dirtied her nappy so Rachel had to take her upstairs to change it. She certainly didn't miss having really young children, she was glad she was past the stage of bottles and nappies.

When she got into her bedroom her en suite door was closed and she could hear the shower running so she presumed her niece had decided to use her shower.

Rachel unpacked all of Rosie's stuff and then changed her nappy grimacing slightly; she never did like changing dirty nappies.

She was just doing up Rosie's vest when Amber walked out with a towel wrapped around her

"Decided to use my shower did we?"

"Yeah your shower's lush. Anyway is it okay if I use some of your deodorant Rach? I forgot to pack mine"

"Yeah help yourself it's in the cupboard in there"

"Oh I did have a look but I couldn't find it"

Amber returned to the en suite and found the deodorant before going back into her Aunt's bedroom

"Emily said her eleven plus didn't go too well" Amber said to her Aunt

"Apparently not, she was so upset about it earlier bless her" Rachel replied

"I don't think it's a bad thing if she doesn't get in anyway, all the girls at that school are so stuck up I'm glad I didn't take the eleven plus in the end"

"You're probably right, if she comes to Waterloo Road I'm sure she'll like it in the end it will just be hard to start with I guess if all of her other friends do get in"

"She'll be fine, but she might have got in we don't know yet"

"True, Emily did seem really upset though"

"You never know" Amber said before going into Emily's room

Rachel went into the lounge where Phil, Finn and Lola were. She couldn't help but notice how awkward Phil looked, he definitely didn't seemed to have developed the confidence that both his sister and Finn had.

"You three alright?" Rachel asked and they all nodded

"Okay, well I'm just going to finish my tea, do you mind keeping an eye on Rosie for me?"

"Yeah okay" Finn said

Phil went over and took his baby sister out of his Aunt's arms and then sat with her on his lap. Rachel was really proud of how much Phil helped his Mum out. Rosie's Dad wasn't on the scene as Mel didn't even know who the baby's father was, so Rachel knew how hard things must be for her. But Phil and Amber had both been so good.

Rachel finished her tea and then finished stacking the dish washer before setting it off. She then went and sat in the lounge with the others.

Amber appeared a few minutes later her hair now blow dried and wearing Rachel's dressing gown. She always loved getting ready at her Aunt's house because it meant she got to use Rachel's expensive makeup and would quite often end up borrowing a pair of her heels.

"Rach is it okay if I use your makeup?" Amber asked. She knew Rachel wouldn't mind but she always liked to ask anyway

"Yeah course it is, you know where it is help yourself"

"Thanks" Amber said before disappearing upstairs

She did her makeup and then let Emily curl her hair for her as promised.

"You're so pretty" Emily said jealously

"Thanks Em, so are you"

"Not as pretty as you though"

"Trust me you're a lot prettier than I was at your age, I used to be proper chubby" Amber said laughing

Emily soon finished curling her cousin's hair and she'd actually done a really good job

"Thanks Em, it looks really good" Amber said smiling

"That's okay, will you do mine for me next time we're going out?"

"Course I can"

Now that her hair and makeup was done Amber decided to put her dress on

"That's such a nice dress" Emily said "Mum would never let me wear something like that though"

"Give it a few years and she'll have no choice" Amber said laughing

It was nearly time for Amber to leave so the two of them went downstairs into the lounge

"Wow, look at you, you look gorgeous" Rachel said after seeing her niece walk into the lounge. She thought her outfit was maybe a little bit too revealing, but no doubt about it she would have gone out in something equally as revealing when she was Amber's age

"Thanks Rach" Amber said smiling "anyway I'm off now"

"Alright love, have a good time. Drink sensibly and make sure you're home on time"

"Yeah yeah I will be"

Amber quickly left to walk to her friend's house who lived just around the corner from Rachel

Rachel decided to go and get Rosie settled for bed. As much as Rachel enjoyed having her nieces and nephew to stay, she couldn't say she particularly enjoyed having to get up several times a night to see to Rosie. She was just pleased it was Sunday tomorrow so she could just have a lazy day recovering from a disturbed night sleep.

"Mum please can I help you put Rosie to bed?" Lola asked

"Yeah I'd be glad of the help, thanks love" Rachel replied

Rachel, Lola and Rosie went upstairs to Rachel's room.

Rachel changed Rosie into her babygrow and then nipped downstairs to heat up a bottle leaving Rosie laying on her bed with Lola.

When Rachel got back upstairs Lola was pleased because her Mum let her give Rosie the bottle.

"Thanks for your help Lola. Do you want to go downstairs now just because I think she might settle a bit better if it's just me up here"

"Okay Mum" Lola said before going downstairs

Rachel put Rosie into the travel cot that she'd set up by her bed and then sat with her until she went to sleep. Luckily it didn't take too long so Rachel soon got back downstairs again.

As it was a Saturday she let Lola stay up a bit better. Once it got to about 9 though she knew it really was about time she got her ready for bed.

"Come on then Lola let's get you ready for bed" Rachel said to her youngest daughter

"Oh but I was having a good time down here with all of you" Lola moaned

"You know what you're like if you don't get a proper night's sleep missus, tired and teezy, so come on"

"Okay then"

Rachel took Lola upstairs.

"You go and put your pyjamas on, I'm just going to check on Rosie"

Lola went into her bedroom and got her pyjamas out. She took off the dress that she'd been wearing and was about to put her pyjama top on when she noticed a rash all over her stomach so she decided to show Rachel

Lola waited and after a few minutes her Mum came back

"Sorry I was so long Rosie woke up, but she's gone back to sleep now"

"Mum I've got a rash all over my stomach"

Rachel came over and had a look

"Oh yeah you have, wonder what's caused that then. Is it itchy?"

"Yeah"

"Okay I'll go and get you some piriton then"

Lola put her pyjamas on while Rachel went down and got some piriton out of the cupboard. She quickly gave it to her daughter when she got up

"I've just had a thought, I've changed washing powder so maybe you've had a reaction to that" Rachel said thinking about it

"Oh, why would that make a difference?"

"Just because your skins not used to it. If it doesn't go away I might have to change back to the other one. Anyway are you going to go and brush your teeth and go for a wee?"

Rachel followed Lola into the bathroom and waited while she brushed her teeth and went for a last wee. She then went and got her daughter tucked up in bed.

"Night sweetheart, love you lots"

"Love you too Mum"

Rachel stayed with Lola until she dropped off to sleep, which never took her long, before creeping out and going back downstairs

It was about 10:30 and Rachel was still downstairs with Finn and Phil, Emily had gone to bed now when she heard the door close. Rachel knew it must be Amber back but she was surprised as she definitely wasn't expecting her home this early.

Rachel went into the hallway to see her niece but only saw the back of her as she was running up the stairs.

Rachel followed her up figuring she was on her way to the bathroom to be sick

As suspected, Rachel found her niece head over the toilet being quite sick so went over and held her hair back and rubbed her back

"That's it sweetheart, get it all out of your system" Rachel soothed

After a while Amber stopped being sick so turned around and leant against the bath

"Feeling a bit better now you've been sick?" Rachel asked and Amber nodded

"Do you think you're going to be sick again?"

"Don't think so"

"Okay let's get you into bed then"

Amber followed her Aunt into Emily's bedroom quietly so they didn't wake her. Even though Rachel was always telling Amber to be careful and sensible when she went out she never she really got angry with her like her Mum did, even though her Mum was always going out partying and getting incredibly drunk herself.

Rachel searched through Amber's extremely messy bag in search of her pyjamas and eventually came across them. She then helped her niece get changed into them before helping her into bed.

She was wondering why Amber was home so early so decided to ask her about it in the morning, knowing she wouldn't feel much like having a conversation and she didn't want to wake Emily up either

"Night Ambs"

"Night Rach"

Rachel kissed Amber on the forehead and then went down to tell the boys it was time they went up to bed, before deciding to go sleep herself.

The morning soon came round and Rachel was sat up in bed with Rosie on her lap when Emily appeared at the door.

"Hi darling, you coming in for a cuddle?" Rachel asked and Emily nodded

Emily came and got into bed with her Mum, she always did like coming in for a cuddle in the morning.

"How you feeling today about yesterday?"

"Alright I guess I wish it had gone better but there's not exactly anything I can do now, is there?"

"Exactly, best attitude to have. It's all done now"

"What are we doing today Mum?"

"I thought we could just have a lazy day, maybe go out and get some fresh air or something this afternoon though"

"Okay"

The two of them stayed cuddled up in bed for a bit longer before Rachel decided to jump in the shower

"Are you going to be alright in here for a bit with Rosie while I quickly have a shower?" Rachel asked

"Yeah that's fine"

"Thanks love"

Emily was having a nice cuddle with her little cousin when she was suddenly sick all down her and over her Mum's bed. Emily immediately put Rosie down in the middle of Rosie's bed before rushing into her Mum in the shower. Rachel panicked thinking there must be something wrong

"Mum Rosie's been sick everywhere" Emily said sounding disgusted

"okay, I'm nearly done now I'll be there in two secs"

Rachel turned the shower off and quickly wrapped a towel around herself before going to sort everything out.

"You go and jump in the shower love, I'll sort it out in here. Sorry about that" Rachel said laughing

"It' not funny it would be while I was having a cuddle"

Rachel stripped the sheet off her bed that Rosie had been sick all over to put in the wash. She then got dressed before going downstairs.

She hadn't been down there for long when Amber appeared downstairs in her pyjamas with her hair tied up

"Morning love, how's the head feeling?"

"Sore" Amber replied

"Do you want a painkiller?"

"Please"

Rachel got her a couple of pain killers and a glass of water before passing it to her niece.

She swallowed them down and then Rachel sat at the table with Amber

"Did you have a good time last night?"

"Yeah it was good thanks" Amber replied although a little unconvincingly

"You were home quite early, nothing happened did it?"

"No" Amber said but immediately her eyes began to fill with tears "I think I'm going to go and get dressed"

"Alright love"

Rachel let her for a bit before going up to check on her because she was feeling a bit worried about Amber and wanted to get to the bottom of what was bothering her

Rachel knocked on the niece and then went in once Amber had said she had. Emily had gone downstairs now so it was just the two of them

When Rachel walked in Amber was lying on the bed and you could tell that she'd been crying

"Do you want a cuddle?" Rachel asked thinking this may be what her niece could do with just now

Amber just nodded her head to this so Rachel went over

"Now are you going to tell your Auntie what's going on?"

"You know I started going out with Jamie in my year a few weeks ago?"

"Yeah"

"Well he wants me to… urmm go all the way with him, but I don't feel ready so he ended things with me last night" Amber told her Auntie

"Oh love, I know it must seem horrible at the minute but if that's all he wanted then he clearly wasn't a keeper anyway"

"I know I just really liked him and I thought he liked me too"

"He's the one losing out darling, not you. But trust me it's better you waited until you're ready, rather than doing something just to please him"

"He's probably going to tell all his mates I'm really frigid now though"

"Oh, don't you worry about that. I'm sure there are plenty of boys queueing up to go out with you" Rachel said making Amber smile weakly

"Thanks Rach" Amber said cuddling into her Auntie

"What for?"

"You always make me feel better" Amber said, which was true she knew she could always talk to her Auntie about anything and she was always there for her

Please review xxxxx


	5. Chapter 5

It was finally the end of term and it was safe to say everyone was extremely glad about this and looking forward to having a whole six weeks off from school.

The family didn't have much planned at the moment but Rachel was just looking forward to spending a bit of time with the kids without having to worry too much about work.

It was just Rachel and Emily at home at the moment as Lola had gone to her friend's house for tea and Finn was out with friends too. Rachel had just finished doing a bit of ironing and was planning to spend a bit of time with Emily once she'd put it all away.

Rachel carried Emily's ironing into her bedroom for her. Usually she just put it on her bed and then got Emily to put it away herself, but she was feeling in a good mood today so decided to put all the stuff away for her.

When putting Emily's knickers away in her drawer she found a carrier bag in there, and being as nosy as she was Rachel decided to have a look in it.

Emily had just come back from the bathroom and was shocked to see her Mum stood by her open underwear drawer she immediately panicked not wanting her Mum to look inside the bag.

"What are you doing Mum?" Emily asked just as Rachel looked inside the bag

"I was just seeing what was in here"

Rachel had a peek inside the bag and saw that Emily had bought a bra. She'd been planning on taking Emily to get some soon as she knew she was starting to develop quite a bit now but she just hadn't got round to it yet. Rachel felt a bit disappointed that her daughter hadn't felt she could come to her about this but she also knew how embarrassed Emily got about this sort of thing.

"Sorry Mum please don't be mad with me I just, I just wanted to start wearing a bra" Emily said blushing

"Oh sweetheart of course I'm not mad with you, you haven't done anything wrong" Rachel said before making her way over to sit on Emily's bed and gesturing for her to sit down next to her

Emily sat down on the bed and leaned into her Mum straight away wanting to avoid eye contact with her

"I was planning on taking you shopping to get some bras anyway because I think it's about time you started wearing one now, don't you?"

"Yeah every time I tried to talk to you about it I ended up chickening out" Emily admitted

"I know it can be a bit difficult, but I think most girls find it a bit awkward talking about this sort of thing with their Mum. Anyway, I think the one you got is very pretty but maybe a little too padded don't you?"

"Maybe, I wasn't really sure what to get I just thought it looked nice"

"As soon as it's just me and you why don't we pop into town and get you some better ones" Rachel suggested

"What now?"

"Yeah you're not going to Hannah's until six are you so we've got plenty of time"

"Okay then" Emily replied feeling a bit nervous but also quite excited at the same time

Rachel left a note for Finn just in case he was home before they got back and was wondering where they were, and then the two of them got into Rachel's audi to drive into town.

Once they had parked they walked into M&S, despite protests from Emily saying she wanted to go somewhere else, but Rachel wanted to get her some decent quality ones.

Once they got there Emily started to feel really embarrassed again, but she'd been waiting to get a bra for quite a while now so she was still pleased they were there.

Rachel had tried to persuade Emily to get fitted properly but she was adamant not to have that done, so in the end settled for Rachel coming in with her whilst she tried some on.

"That one's nice, don't know what your Dad would have to say about it mind you"

"Why would Dad see it?" Emily said already feeling a bit apprehensive about how her Dad would react to her wearing a bra

"Well if he ever does any of your washing or anything, no doubt he'll leave it for me to do though"

"I'd never put it in the wash at Dad's anyway"

"Your Dad would understand though he knows you're starting to grow up a bit, but I do understand why you wouldn't"

Once they were done in the changing rooms Rachel went to pay for the ones they'd decided on before passing the bag to Ellie to carry.

"Thanks for taking me Mum"

"That's okay darling, promise me you'll come to me next time there's something you want to talk about?"

"I promise"

"Good girl. Ems, do you still want your ears pierced?"

"Yes, obviously I just gave up asking because I thought you were never going to let me get them done why?"

"I thought we could get them done while we were in town. And I wasn't going to say no forever I just wanted you to wait until you were a bit older that's all"

"Really I can get them done now?"

"Yeah if you want to" Rachel said knowing that Emily could probably do with cheering up a bit. It had turned out that Emily was the only one out of all her friends that hadn't got into the grammar school. Even though she'd been really upset about it to start with, she was starting to get used to the idea more now

Emily was so excited now that her Mum had suggested it so they went straight to a nice jewellery shop to get it done

"Hi, would my daughter be able to get her ears pierced today please?" Rachel asked the lady stood behind the counter

"Yeah of course, would she prefer to have them done at the same time?"

"If you could that would be great"

Emily took a seat whilst the lady went to get her colleague; she was starting to feel a bit nervous now

The longer she had to sit there waiting for them to get it all set up the more worried Emily was getting. Rachel had noticed how pale and anxious looking her daughter had gone so stood in front of her and held her hand.

"Mum I don't know if I want this done anymore" Emily said suddenly

"Yes you do you know how long you've been waiting for this"

"How much is it going to hurt?"

"Only a little bit and it's only for a few seconds, and just think how pretty it will look when it's done"

"We're ready now" the shop lady said

Rachel felt Emily grip her hand even harder, but after a few more seconds it was done

"Wow you didn't even flinch" Rachel said "well done darling"

"Do you want to have a look in the mirror?" one of the ladies had done it said so Emily got down and looked in the mirror

"Wow, they look really good. Thank you"

Rachel paid and they were given the stuff to clean the ears with, before the two of them walked back to the car

"Are you pleased then?" Rachel said once they were driving home again

"Yeah thank you so much Mum"

"Oh god look at the time it's nearly time to get you to Hannah's, have you packed all your stuff?"

"Nearly, I think I want to get changed too"

"Okay well I doubt it will matter if you're a bit late. Are you going to put one of your bras on?"

"Urmm I suppose I could" Emily said to her Mum but she had been planning to put one on anyway

As soon as they got in the door Emily went upstairs to get ready for going to her sleepover whilst Rachel went to see if Finn was in.

She found him in the lounge with one of his friends

"Hi Finn, hi Max" Rachel said

"Hi Mum"

"Hi Miss Mason"

"You know, you can call me Rachel outside of school Max" Rachel said, something she often found herself saying to Finn's friends she knew this was going to be the case with all of Emily's new friends when she started at Waterloo road too

"Oh yeah, anyway I have to go now apparently I have to be home for tea at 6" Max said rolling his eyes "Bye Finn bye Rachel"

Max soon left so then it was just Finn and Rachel

"So are you pleased to have finished school?" Rachel asked her son

"Obviously. Mum have you spoken to Mr Clarkson since the end of school?"

"No, why?"

"Oh no reason"

"Right, I'll probably see him later though Grandma's coming over to babysit for a few hours later so I can go out with the staff for a few end-of-year drinks"

"Okay"

Emily came downstairs with her overnight bag having changed into a skirt and vest top

"You look nice love, are you ready to go?"

"Yep"

"Come on then"

The two of them were about to walk out of the lounge when Finn suddenly noticed her sister had a bra on

"Oh my god are you wearing a bra Emily?" Finn said causing his little sister's cheeks to turn bright red

Emily ran out of the room feeling really embarrassed by Finn's comment

"Finn" Rachel scolded "there was absolutely no need for that. Yes Emily's starting to grow up now but really it's absolutely none of your business" Rachel said wanting to make this clear as it was a sensitive enough subject for Emily without her older brother making things ten times worse

"Okay okay I'm sorry, there's no need to get so stressed about it"

"Well I'm just telling you, don't mention anything about it again, okay?"

"Okay"

Rachel went out into the hallway to find her daughter sat on the stairs with tears in her eyes. She went over and sat down by her daughter

"Just ignore your brother, he's just being silly"

"I don't even know why I'm crying Mum, he just really embarrassed me"

"I know he did, it's just your hormones making you feel like this love"

"It's so annoying, why does it have to make you feel like this"

"All part of the package of growing up I'm afraid. Right are you ready to go now?" Rachel said wiping away a few stray tears that had fallen down Emily's cheeks

"Yep"

"Come on then"

The two of them said bye to Finn before Rachel dropped Emily off at Hannah's.

"Have a good time darling, see you tomorrow. What time do you want picking up?"

"Urmm, I'll ring you when we've finished shopping"

"Okay, and don't forget to ask Hannah's Mum to clean turn your earrings and clean them"

"I won't"

"Good girl, bye love"

"Bye Mum" Emily said before getting out of the car and going up to her friend's front door

Rachel watched until she'd gone into the house before driving off again to go and pick Lola up from her friend's house

When Rachel went into pick up her daughter she was pleased to see her playing happily with her friend

"Has she been alright?" Rachel asked Sally, Lola's friends Mum

"Yeah good as gold"

"Good, well Tilly will have to come back to ours sometime in the holiday"

"Come on then Lola we need to go"

"Oh I was having fun playing, do we have to leave yet can't you stay for a coffee like you normally do"

"No because Grandma will be at our house soon"

Lola sighed before coming out to the front door with Rachel to get her shoes on

"What do you say to Tilly and Sally?" Rachel said to her daughter

"Thank you for having me" Lola said

"You're welcome Lola, you can come again anytime"

They all said goodbye and then Rachel and Lola got back into the car to drive home

"Why's Grandma coming over?" Lola asked

"Because she's going to look after you for a few hours while I go out with the staff. Is that okay?"

"Yeah Grandma always lets me stay up later than you do"

"Does she now? Well I'll have to have a few words with Grandma then won't I" Rachel said but she was only joking, she didn't mind really she knew how much her Mum and Dad spoiled their grand children

When Rachel pulled onto the drive she saw that her Mum must already be there as her car was parked up.

"We're home" Rachel said as her and Lola walked into the house

"Hi love, we're in the lounge" Sue replied

Rachel and Lola went into the lounge where Finn was sat with his Grandma

"Thanks for doing this again Mum, do you mind if I nip upstairs and get ready?"

"Course not"

"Lola's already had her tea and there's a pizza in the fridge that Finn can have when he's hungry" Rachel said before going upstairs to get ready

She was sat at her dressing table when she saw her Mum walk into her room

"Everything alright?" Rachel asked

"Yeah I just needed to ask you something. What are you doing tomorrow?"

"Well Emily's shopping with her friends but I don't know what we're doing yet, why?"

"Me and your Dad have got something to tell you all, do you want to come over when Emily gets home then?"

"Okay, can't you just tell me now though Mum? You've made me all worried now"

"No it's a surprise, I promise you it's nothing bad though. Anyway I'll leave you to get ready"

Sue then went downstairs leaving a very puzzled Rachel to finish getting ready. She wished her Mum would just tell her what it was as she hated being kept out of the loop.

It didn't take long for Rachel to get ready so she was soon back downstairs again.

"Is it okay if I go now?" Rachel asked

"Course it is, have a good time"

"Ring me if there's any problems"

"Yes yes but you just go and have a good time" Sue said knowing it would do her daughter good to get out of the house for a bit without the kids

Lola rushed over to her Mum to give her a big cuddle before she left so Rachel picked her up

"Love you Mummy" Lola said

"Love you more" Rachel said before putting her daughter back on the floor "and make sure you do whatever Grandma tells you to do"

As soon as Rachel left Sue put on a film so they all sat down and watched it.

"Grandma please can I have a drink?" Lola asked

"I would think so, what would you like?"

"Please can I have some lemonade?" she knew her Mum would never let her have a glass of lemonade this late at night but she thought she just as well try it to see what her Grandma would say

Sue went out to the kitchen and brought them all in a drink as well as the sweets that she'd brought over for them.

They finished watching the film but then Sue realised that it was actually quite late so decided to get Lola up to bed.

"Time for bed Lola"

"I'm not tired though"

"Tough, it's way too late for little girls to be up what's your Mum going to say if she comes back now and you're still up?"

"Okay then" Lola said before going up the stairs with her Grandma

Lola made a quick trip to the bathroom before joining her Grandma in her bedroom where she changed into her pyjamas

Sue tucked into her granddaughter into bed and waited with her for a while before going back downstairs.

Lola stayed in bed for a while but she couldn't seem to drop off to sleep, she was really fidgety too and just wanted to get out of bed.

She knew it she went downstairs her Grandma would just send her straight back up to bed, so instead she crept across the landing as quietly as she could into the playroom. When she got in there Lola closed the door behind her.

She wasn't really sure what to play with but in the end decided to put the wii on.

It wasn't that late when Rachel arrived home, only about 10 or so. She went into the lounge where Finn and Sue were.

"Hiya, did you have a good time?" Sue asked her daughter

"Yeah it was nice to get out for a bit. How were the kids?"

"Finn was good as gold" Sue said smiling at her grand son "and so was Lola, she's in bed now"

"Thanks for coming over Mum"

"You don't need to thank me, you know how much I enjoy spending time with them anyway I'd best get back now but I'll see you tomorrow yeah?"

"Yeah I don't know what time it will be but I'll let you know"

"Okay well we and your Dad haven't got any plans tomorrow anyway so we'll probably be in all day"

Sue soon left so Rachel decided to go up to check on Lola, she always did like to say goodnight to her properly when she was in bed.

However when she got to Lola's bedroom she was shocked to see that Lola wasn't in her bed. She waited a while presuming that Lola must be in the loo or something but when she still hadn't come out a few minutes later Rachel decided to go and look for her.

She wasn't in the upstairs bathroom but then Rachel had a thought, maybe she'd gone into Rachel's bed. However when Rachel looked in there, she wasn't in her bed either.

Rachel began to wonder where her daughter had got to, but when she got back onto the landing she saw that the door to the playroom was shut which was unusual as they normally left it open.

She went straight over and opened the door to see her daughter playing on the wii. Lola was so engrossed that she didn't even hear her Mum come in so just carried on playing oblivious to her Mum watching her.

Rachel stood there for a few minutes thinking that Lola would notice her eventually, but she didn't. So Rachel went over and stood in front of her daughter.

When Lola saw her Mum she immediately stopped starting to feel a bit worried her Mum would be cross with her

"Care to explain why you're not in bed?" Rachel asked trying her best to sound stern

"Sorry Mum I couldn't sleep"

"Right and I suppose bouncing around on the wii is really going to help you to feel sleepy isn't it"

"Well no, but I had loads of energy"

"Okay well it's way past your bedtime now so come on into bed love"

Lola quickly turned off the wii before going into her bedroom with her Mum.

When they got in there Lola would not seem to stop talking; Rachel was wondering what had happened to make her daughter so wound up

"Lola I'm not listening to you"

"Well that's rude Mum, you always tell me I have to listen when someone's talking"

"Yes but right now you shouldn't be talking, you should be fast asleep"

"Sorry Mum"

"Why don't you close your eyes and turn over and I'll tickle your back" Rachel said knowing this always relaxed her daughter

Lola did just that and eventually she did begin to calm down considerably. Rachel carried on scratching her back until she fell asleep because she didn't want her getting out of bed again

Once Rachel was sure that she was asleep she went into her bedroom to get ready for bed herself. She was just getting changed when there was a knock at the door

"Who is it?" Rachel asked wondering if Lola had woken up again

"It's me Mum" Finn said through the door

"Hang on two secs, I'm just getting changed"

Once Rachel had her pyjamas on she went and opened the door to Finn

"I was just coming to say goodnight"

"Sorry Finn, I was on my way back down I've just had a few problems with your sister"

"Why what's wrong with her?"

"She was extremely hyper, what's she been eating tonight?"

"Well Grandma let her drink lemonade and she had lots of sweets too" Finn said causing Rachel to roll her eyes

"Well that would explain that then, anyway can you come in here a sec I want to have a few words with you"

Finn went and sat on his Mum's bed wondering what it was Rachel wanted to talk to him about but he could guess that her Mum had probably had a word with Mr Clarkson while she was out

Rachel went over and sat down by Finn

"I spoke to Mr Clarkson whilst I was out"

"Oh"

"Hmm" Rachel said raising her eyebrows "care to explain why you chose to not turn up to your last lesson today?"

"Come on Mum it was the last day it wasn't like we were actually going to be doing anything so it was just a waste of time"

"What did you do then?"

"Just went into town and stuff"

"Well even if it is pointless you still have to turn up, you can't make the decision to just skive off. But I'm not going to have a go…"

"You kind of already are" Finn said cutting across her

"No listen to me, I'm not going to say anything more about it but what I do want to say is that next year things do need to change. You haven't exactly been trying your best this year, but next year is when things start to get more serious. You're starting your GCSE courses and I know you're a bright boy but you just need to start putting more effort in"

"Yeah okay Mum, do we really have to be doing this now"

"No I'm sorry, I want you to have a great summer but I'm just letting you know that after the holidays I am going to have to start being a bit stricter with you, okay?"

"Yep" Finn said unenthusiastically

"Okay, well I'll see you in the morning. Night love"

"Night Mum" Finn said before leaving his Mum's room

Rachel sighed knowing she was going to have quite a job getting her son to buckle down a bit next year, but she didn't want to worry about that for now she just wanted to concentrate on having a good summer.

Rachel finished getting ready for bed and checked everything was turned off downstairs before going to bed.

The morning soon came round, and it was so nice not to worry about having to get up. Rachel got up at about 8 and jumped straight in the shower.

After her shower she dried off a bit and wrapped her dressing gown around her before going to check on her daughter. Usually Lola got up quite early, but when Rachel went in she was still fast asleep which was probably because she was up so late the night before

Rachel left her to it and went and got on with a few jobs around the house. Rachel had to admit it was quite nice to have a bit of time to herself, even if she was doing housework.

It wasn't long before Lola and Finn were up so Rachel made them all some breakfast.

"What are we doing today Mum?" Lola asked

"I thought we could just have a day around the house, the weather's nice so you can play in the garden and stuff"

"Okay"

They finished having breakfast and then Rachel cleared up.

It was about 9:30 when Rachel's phone started to ring. Rachel looked and saw it was Emily, she presumed she was just ringing to say good morning.

"Morning Em, are you having a good time"

"Yes thank you" Emily said she wasn't really but all her friends were around her so she knew that she had to say that

"Good"

"Mum I don't think I'm going to go shopping anymore"

"Oh really how come?"

"I've got a really bad headache so would you mind coming to pick me up?"

"Of course not, when did your headache start?"

"Urmm last night" Emily lied "I thought it would be better by today but it's just got worse"

"Okay I'll be round shortly, are you ready?"

"Yep"

Lola stayed at home with Finn while Rachel went to pick up Emily from Hannah's.

As soon as Emily saw her Mum come she said goodbye to her friends before rushing out to her Mum's car

"Hi sweetheart, let's get you home and get you a couple of painkillers shall we?"

"I don't really have a headache" Emily admitted to her Mum

"Oh don't you, how come you didn't want to go shopping them?" Rachel asked and Emily shrugged

"I just didn't feel like it"

Rachel thought about it for a moment before saying "they're not being horrible to you are they because you're not going to the same school as them next year?"

"No they weren't being horrible, it just feels really different being around them now they're still really nice to me I just didn't feel like I belonged there"

"Just because you're going to a different school doesn't mean you can't still see them outside of school. It might be a bit more difficult, but you can still stay friends"

"I know"

"But it wouldn't be a bad idea to start trying to meet up with some of the others who are going to Waterloo road too"

"I guess but I don't know any of them that well" Emily said as she'd been in the same friendship for years and never really bothered to see anyone else outside of school

"Well now's the perfect time to start then, isn't it? Maybe you could invite some girls round for a sleepover"

"Wouldn't it be really awkward?"

"No I don't think so, some of the girls in your class seem really lovely. What do you think?"

"Okay then" Emily agreed knowing it probably was quite a good idea because she was feeling really nervous about starting Waterloo Road without any friends and knew it would probably be a bit better if she knew some of the girls better

When they got in Emily went straight up to her room to unpack her things. Rachel called her Mum to say they could come over that morning now as Emily had come home early

"Finn, Em, Lola" Rachel shouted upstairs to her children

They all came down stairs so Rachel told them where they were going

"Do I have to come Mum, I was going to go out"

"Yep Grandma said they want to speak to all of us, you can go out after"

"Fine"

They all got ready to go before driving round to Rachel's parent's house

Sue let them in and then told them to go through to the lounge where Paul was sat

"Hi Dad" Rachel said as they went in

Sue made some coffees for the three of them and cold drinks for the children before bringing them in

"Mum can you tell us now?" Rachel asked getting more and more curious

"What are they going to tell us?" Emily asked

"Apparently they've got a surprise for us" Rachel replied

"Okay then, well me and Grandad know how disappointed you all are about not being able to go to America anymore" Sue began. Rachel and Chris were taking the kids on a family holiday to Florida but Rachel didn't feel up to taking them all the way to America on her own so had to cancel it "and we know this probably isn't quite so exciting but we've booked for us all to go to Cyprus in a couple of weeks time"

"Oh my god really Mum?" Rachel said shocked

"Yep it's all booked, we hope you don't mind us not asking you first, we just wanted to surprise you"

"Of course I don't mind, thank you so much" Rachel said going over to give her Mum a hug and then her Dad

"So we're still going to be going on holiday then?" Lola asked sounding really excited

"Sounds like it doesn't it, so what do you say to Grandma and Grandad?"

The kids all said thank you to their grandparents so excited that they were going to be going abroad after all.

"When do we go then?" Rachel asked

"Two weeks on Friday and we're over there for 10 days"

The six of them stayed chatting for a while

The kids stayed in the lounge with their Grandad while Rachel and Sue took all the cups into the kitchen

"Mum I really don't know what to say, I can't believe you've done this for us"

"It's okay love. I think you could all do with getting away what with everything you've been through over the last few months"

"Yeah we definitely could, it will be so nice to get away. I'm so glad you and Dad are coming though"

"We were thinking about just booking it for the four of you but we thought you wouldn't be any happier taking them to Cyprus than America, even if it is closer"

"No I don't think I would have felt comfortable taking them on my own"

They stayed there for a while talking about their holiday before deciding to get going. Finn went out to meet his friends, but Rachel and the girls decided to go shopping to get some stuff to go away.

Please review xxxxx


	6. Chapter 6

It was the day before they were all due out to Cyprus and everyone was extremely excited by the holiday now.

Rachel was in her bedroom busy packing and making sure she had everything ready for tomorrow. She'd got out everything she and Lola needed so all of their stuff was laid out on Rachel's bed.

"Emily, Finn please can you bring in your packing?" Rachel asked as she usually put a mixture of all of their stuff into two suitcases just so that if one did go missing at least they'd all still have something

Emily came straight in with everything that she wanted to take, it took her a couple of trips but eventually she'd given it all to Rachel.

Rachel had a quick check through to make sure her daughter had everything, but there was nothing else that she could think of.

"Do you reckon you've got enough pairs of knickers here? You've got about 15 pairs" Rachel said laughing

"Well you never know what might happen"

Shortly after Emily had gone out Finn came in however when Rachel looked at him he realised he didn't have any stuff

"Where's your packing?"

"I haven't done it yet"

"I told you to do it an hour ago"

"What's the point, we're not going until tomorrow I've still got ages"

"Yes and I want to get it all sorted now so that I can have a chilled out evening without having to worry about anything, go and do it now"

Finn rolled his eyes at his Mum before reluctantly going to his room to start packing. Whilst Finn did this Rachel went into her en suite to get out all of her own toiletries.

She was still doing this when Lola came in

"Mummy" Lola said

"Yes love"

"Why haven't you packed this dress for me?" Lola asked holding up one of her favourite dresses that she'd outgrown

"Because it's way too small for you"

"No it's not and I really like it"

"I know you do but you're too big for it now"

"No I'm not" Lola protested

"Well try it on and we'll see then"

Lola quickly took off the top and trousers she was wearing before slipping the dress over her head

"see" Lola said "it does fit"

"I don't think it does, but if you really want to pack it I'll put it in the suitcase"

"Yaaay" Lola said. She then went to take the dress off over her head but ended up getting stuck in it

"Mum I'm stuck"

Rachel went over and tried to pull the dress off her daughter's head and with a bit of difficulty she did manage to get it off

"Maybe it is a bit too small"

Lola quickly put her clothes back on before saying "Mum please can we do some cooking?"

"I haven't really got time at the minute I've still got loads to do, why don't you ask Emily if she wants to though and then you can make some buns or something the two of you"

"What on our own?"

"Yeah I think you two can manage without me"

Lola went and found her sister and then the two of them started cooking.

Finn had quickly picked up a few things before bringing them through to his Mum

"There you go" Finn said handing it all to his Mum

"Is this all you're taking? No toiletries or shoes? You haven't even packed any boxer shorts"

"Oh yeah didn't think about any of that"

"Maybe I ought to be doing this for you"

"I can manage"

Finn was gone a bit longer this time but eventually came back, and this time handed Rachel everything that he would need whilst they were away.

"Mum can I go out for a bit please?" Finn asked

"Where are you going?"

"Just round to Abbie's house"

Abbie was Finn's girlfriend. Rachel really liked her; she thought she was a lovely girl

"Yeah alright love, don't be home too late though"

When Finn had gone Rachel put all the stuff into suitcases before going downstairs to check on the girls. When she got down there she found them both sat at the kitchen table waiting for the buns to come out of the oven and the kitchen looked immaculate.

"Wow girls I am impressed, I was expecting to come downstairs to a right mess"

"But you said you had loads to do so we didn't want to make any other jobs for you" Lola said sweetly

Rachel was about to respond to this when the beeper went off

"They're ready" Emily said

"Do you want me to get them out of the oven?" Rachel offered

"No it's okay I'll do it"

Emily got the buns out of the oven and then the three of them went off to do their own things for a bit while they cooled down. Rachel was glad the girls were at an age now where they could occupy themselves; it meant she could get a lot more done.

The evening passed quite quickly and by the end of it Rachel was satisfied that she'd done everything that needed doing meaning now she could just look forward to the holiday.

By now all the kids were in bed after Rachel telling them all they needed to have an earlyish night. She knew Finn was most probably up in his room playing on his xbox just pretending to be asleep, but there wasn't exactly anything she could do about that.

After watching TV for a bit on her own Rachel decided to go up to bed herself.

It was the middle of the night and Emily woke up needing the loo. It was unusual for her to need to go in the middle of the night, but she knew it was probably just because she'd been drinking quite a bit today.

After dragging herself out of her warm double bed Emily went into the bathroom to go for a wee.

She washed her hands and was on her way back to bed when she thought she could hear her Mum crying, so made her way over to her Mum's bedroom door.

As Emily got closer it was obvious Rachel was crying and quite a lot by the sounds of it too.

Up until when her parents had split up Emily had only seen her Mum cry a few times but this had all changed in the last few months. Even though Rachel tried her best not to get upset in front of the kids, they quite often found her crying when she wasn't expecting them to be around.

Emily slowly opened the door before walking over to her Mum.

Rachel saw the door open so hastily wiped away her tears and tried to stop crying not wanting any of her children to see her like this

"Mum"

"Hi darling, everything okay?"

"Are you okay Mum?"

"Yeah course I am why?"

"I thought I heard you crying so I wanted to check you were okay"

As much as Rachel didn't want Emily to know she'd been crying she couldn't help but be pleased she'd come in all the same as she really could do with a cuddle she thought.

Rachel started to cry again at Emily's last comment so Emily was quick to jump into bed beside her Mum and give her a big hug.

"I'm sorry Em, you shouldn't have to see me like this. I'm being such a bad Mum at the moment aren't I?"

Hearing her Mum say this made Emily burst into tears too she would hate for Rachel to think she was being a bad Mum at the minute because Emily knew this wasn't one bit true.

"You're the best Mum in the world, I couldn't ask for anyone better" Emily cried

After having a cuddle for a while both of them managed to stop crying.

"Why were you crying Mum?" Emily asked

"Oh I don't know I was just thinking about it's the first time I'm taking you away without your Dad and I'm due on in a couple of days so I'm feeling a bit emotional anyway"

"Does having your period make you emotional? When people say it makes you cry I thought it must have been from the stomach cramps or something"

"Well not everyone, but most girls tend to get very emotional around their period yes. I'm not quite so bad now but certainly when I was a teenager I can remember crying over the stupidest of things"

"I'm really not looking forward to it Mum"

"Don't you worry about it sweetheart, I'm not going to say you won't find it hard at first but you will get used to it I promise"

They stayed chatting for a bit longer but soon Lola appeared in Rachel's bedroom door

"Mummy I woke up and now I can't get back to sleep"

"Can't you love? Why don't you come into my bed for a bit"

Rachel moved up a bit so then she had Emily and Lola either side of her

"What's Emily doing in here?"

"She just came in for a cuddle too. Now why can't you sleep sweetheart?"

"I just keep thinking about going on holiday tomorrow, I can't wait Mummy it's going to be so fun"

"I know, but you need to go to sleep now or you'll be too tired to enjoy it"

"I am trying"

"I know you are, I'll come in with you and stay with you until you fall asleep shall I?"

"Yes please"

"Come on then" Rachel said before the three of them got out of Rachel's big bed.

"Night Mum" Emily said before going back into her own bedroom

"Night love, thanks for the cuddle"

"Love you"

"Love you too darling"

Rachel went through to Lola's bedroom and got her tucked in.

Lola kept asking questions about the holiday, like what they were going to do when they first got there and who was sleeping with who but Rachel just kept telling her to be quiet.

Eventually she did fall asleep so Rachel went back to her own bed and this time managed to go to sleep too.

The kids were all up early the next morning because they were so excited. Lola was up first so came straight in to wake up her Mum.

"Mum, Mum wake up we're going on holiday today"

"Mmm" Rachel mumbled still half asleep

"Come on Mum wake up we need to go"

"Grandma and Grandad aren't coming over until 11, and it's only 6 now, come into bed with me and try to go back to sleep for a bit you're going to be shattered otherwise"

"No I don't want to I want to get dressed" Lola said which was very rare, normally Rachel had a hard job getting her to change out of her pyjamas

Lola pulled the duvet off her Mum wanting her to get up now. Rachel had a feeling this could be a long morning.

Rachel knew that even if she did stay in bed Lola would just be there meaning she would rather just get out and get on.

"Right well I think we'll get you in the bath this morning because we won't have time when we get there tonight; it will be straight to bed"

"What time are we going to get there Mum?"

"Well the flight gets in at nine but we probably won't be at our apartment until about 11"

"That's past my bedtime Mummy"

"I know which is why you're going to be so tired"

Rachel went and ran the bath for Lola and once it was done she undressed and got in.

"Mum please can you play that game where we pretend…" Lola began but Rachel cut her off

"No games this morning, I've only just woken up" Rachel said not woken up properly quite yet

Lola was playing with some of her toys in the bath when Emily came in, she wasn't really expecting anyone to be in there so was a bit shocked when she saw her Mum and Lola in there.

"You're up early love" Rachel said

"Yeah I know I woke up and now I can't get back to sleep"

"Are you excited?"

"Yeah I can't wait"

"Were you coming in to go to the loo?"

"Yeah I wasn't expecting you to be in here"

"You can go and use my bathroom if you like"

"Thanks Mum" Emily said before going out again

The morning passed reasonably quickly and soon Sue and Paul arrived with their suitcase.

"Shall I put this straight in the boot Rach?" Paul asked

"Yeah can do I'm coming out to put all our stuff in now anyway"

Once the car was all packed and Rachel was sure she definitely had everything they decided to just get going because the kids were all dying to leave. Their flight wasn't until 5 but they decided they just as well hang about at the airport than stay at home.

"Come on then let's go, make sure you all go for a wee before you leave though" Rachel said

They all went to the loo before they left before getting in the car ready to go.

"How long does it take to get to the airport?" Lola asked

"It's about an hour and a half drive love" Rachel replied

"That's ages though" Lola moaned

"You've got loads of stuff to do in your bag so hopefully it won't be too bad"

They'd been driving for about half an hour when they spotted loads of traffic ahead of them on the motorway. When they got there they realised that no-one was moving.

"At least we left in plenty of time" Sue said

"Yeah I hope we're not stuck here for too long though"

After about 20 minutes they'd only moved about ten metres and all the kids were starting to get really fed up.

Lola had gone quite quiet because she needed to go for a wee, but she didn't want to say in front of everyone so had just been trying to hold on. However she was getting more and more desperate so decided she needed to tell her Mum

"Mum" Lola said from the very back seats

"Yes love" Rachel said turning around to face her daughter

"I need a wee" Lola said quietly

"Well I'm afraid there's not a lot I can do about that considering we're stuck in traffic on the motorway"

"But I'm really bursting"

"You can't be that desperate you went before we left which was less than an hour ago"

"She has drunk all of her drink though Mum" Emily said who was sitting next to Lola

"You're just going to have to hold on for now, sorry love"

Lola began to jig her legs up and down and look really uncomfortable so Rachel knew how desperate she probably was but there wasn't really anything she could do about it

Thankfully after another 10 minutes they'd gone past an accident, which was obviously what had been causing the traffic jam, so now they were back to travelling at a normal speed

"Dad would you be able to pull in at the next service station? Lola needs the loo"

"Yeah I just saw a sign the next one is in a mile"

Lola was so relieved to hear this, but she was still quite worried that she wasn't going to make it in time because she really was very desperate by now.

As soon as they pulled into the service station Rachel jumped out of the car and then let Lola out. The two of them ran into the toilets and luckily Lola got there just in time.

Rachel had come out and was washing her hands when she saw Sue and Emily come in too

"Thought we'd just as well go while we're here" Sue said

"That better darling?" Rachel asked once Lola was out

"Yes thank you"

"Think it's probably best you don't drink anymore now until we get to the airport"

"Okay, how long before we're there?"

"About an hour still to go I'm afraid"

After a quick break at the services they got back on the road and after an hour or so they arrived at the airport without any other problems.

They parked in the car park and got all of the suitcases out before getting onto the minibus to go down to their terminal. Check- in wasn't open yet so they decided to get a bit of lunch.

"Mum please can me and Lola go in that shop?" Emily asked after they'd had their lunch

"Yeah alright love don't go anywhere else though"

After a little while their check in opened, so they did that before going through security.

Lola always did get a bit scared when they did this so Rachel held her hand after putting all their bags and stuff into trays.

"Right I'll go through first and I'll wait for you just through there okay?"

"Okay" Lola said letting go of Rachel's hand and holding onto her Grandma's instead

Rachel went through first shortly followed by Lola then Finn then Emily.

When Emily went through she made the machine beep so had to be searched, which made Finn laugh

"Why's Emily having that done Mum?" Lola asked

"Because she made the machine beep so they just need to check she's not carrying anything she shouldn't be"

Once the lady was done searching Emily she came over to where her Mum was standing getting all their stuff together again

"It was probably your bra that set it off" Finn said laughing

"That's enough Finn" Rachel said giving him one of her looks "it wasn't love, look you forgot to take your hairclip out it was probably that"

Once Sue and Paul had come through as well and they all had their stuff together they made their way to the departure lounge and then had a look around duty- free.

After having a look around there and hanging out some more time Rachel decided it was probably best to make a toilet stop before boarding the plane.

They walked out of the airport and it was raining so everyone was definitely looking forward to getting away to somewhere sunny.

On the plane Rachel sat with her Dad and Lola, and Emily and Finn sat behind with Sue.

"Mum please can I have one of those sweets you bought in the shop please?" Lola asked her Mum

"I only bought them for when we take off and land so you can wait for that, they'll be bringing round the food quite soon"

"But aeroplane is disgusting" Lola moaned

Rachel couldn't really disagree with her on that one but nonetheless she knew what Lola could get like if she had too many sweets

They'd been sat on the plane for a while when eventually it did start to go to the runway and then after another little wait it was their turn to take off.

"Ready?" Rachel asked as they gathered speed taking hold of Lola's hand

"Yep, I love this bit" Lola said making Rachel laugh, she couldn't say she was a huge fan of taking off

It wasn't long before they were up in the air.

As soon as the seatbelt sign went off Lola said "Mum I need the toilet"

"No you don't, you're only saying it because you want to get up" Rachel said before turning around to see that the queue was already massive for the toilets

"Well it's not my fault if my wet myself"

"If you really need to go I'll take you, but I'm sure you're just saying it"

"I'll take her Mum I need to go anyway" Emily said leaning forward in her seat after hearing her little sister

"Alright then thanks love"

Emily and Lola got up before joining the queue to go to the toilet.

When the air hostess' came around with the trolley with the drinks on Rachel and Sue both decided to have a glass of wine.

"Can I have one too Mum?" Finn asked hopefully

"Urmm no I don't think so considering you're only 13"

"Nearly 14 though"

"Yes so still too young, you won't like it anyway"

"Fine I'll just have a coke then" Finn decided

When it was time to land Rachel was quite glad as it felt like it had been a really long day, travelling with the kids always did tire her out quite a lot.

"Should I put my coat on Mum?" Lola asked

"I doubt you'll need that one now love I expect it will be still really hot outside, I'll just put it in my bag"

They all walked up to the door of the plane ready to get bit of fresh air however when they got there they realised there was a tunnel connected to it that they had to walk through instead.

"Guess we'll have to wait a bit longer to get outside then" Rachel said before they got off the plane and walked into the airport

They were stood waiting for their luggage to come out when Lola tapped Rachel to get her attention

"What is it Lola?" Rachel asked whilst looking out for all of their suitcases

My tummy's really hurting"

"You always do seem to get a stomach ache whenever we fly, don't you? Hopefully it will go in a minute"

"I need the toilet"

"Okay I'll take you in a minute"

"You take her Rach, your Dad will lift your suitcases off when they come around"

"Sure"

"Yep positive"

Rachel took her daughter to the loos which were luckily quite nearby. When she was stood there waiting she looked at herself in the mirror and noticed how pale she was looking with dark circles under her eyes but she knew it was because she was tired from travelling all day

She was just in the middle of putting a bit of makeup on to make her feel a bit better when Sue and Emily came into the toilets too

"Rach you don't need to be worrying about what you look like now, which by the way you still look beautiful" Sue said

"Thanks Mum but I look dreadful, I look like I've had no sleep for a bloody week" Rachel said laughing "have you got the suitcases?"

"Yep they've all come out luckily"

After a few more minutes Lola was out of the toilet too

"Does your tummy feel better now?" Rachel asked her daughter

"No not really"

"I'm sure it will soon, and it will definitely go after a good night's sleep"

They went out and met back up with Finn and Paul before walking out of the airport to find the bus that was taking them to their apartment. Originally they were going to hire out a car but in the end decided there was no point as everywhere they would be going was in walking distance.

They got on the bus and started to travel to their apartment. It turned out theirs was the last stop so by the time they got there Lola had fallen asleep on her Grandad.

Rachel stood up and tried to wake her daughter. She felt bad doing this but she knew she would be fine because she'd just be excited that they had arrived.

"Lola, we're here" Rachel said shaking her gently

Luckily it didn't take long for Lola to wake up so they thanked the driver before getting off and collecting all of their luggage.

Once they were inside they made their way to reception to check in before finding their apartment.

It looked really nice when they got in there. It was a three- bedroom apartment but luckily it looked really big and spacious.

As soon as they got in Rachel got all the kids into bed because she didn't want them to be too tired for their first day.

It had taken them a little while to decide who was sleeping with who, but eventually they decided that Rachel would share with Lola; Sue would share with Emily and Paul would share with Finn.

They all said goodnight to each other before getting into bed ready for their first day tomorrow.

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	7. Chapter 7

It was the following day and they all had a bit of a lie in because they were quite tired from all the travelling they'd done the night before.

Rachel was still asleep when Lola started to tickle her face to wake her up

"Morning" Rachel said just starting to wake up

"Mum please can we go swimming now?" Lola asked desperate to get into the pool

"Not yet love, we all need to get ready and stuff first don't we?"

"Can we get up now then?"

"Yep" Rachel sighed knowing it was no use trying for another five minutes in bed

When they got out Lola went to the loo and then Rachel went in after her.

After Rachel had been she went into the kitchen where everyone else was except from Paul

"Where's Dad?"

"Gone shopping to get some food" Sue replied

"I could have gone"

"That might have been a bit difficult when you were asleep" Sue said laughing

Sue flicked the kettle on and made herself and Rachel a cup of coffee each, luckily they'd been given tea and coffee and stuff in their room.

It wasn't long before Paul got back with all of the shopping so they all helped to unpack it before having some breakfast.

"Looks like a lovely day"

"Hopefully I can get a tan now, everyone at school seems to be browner than me" Emily said

"I'm sure you'll go a lovely colour, you normally do when we go abroad"

After breakfast Rachel went back into her room to finish off her unpacking. It wasn't long however before Lola came in and started pestering her about wanting to go swimming now.

"Okay okay, let's get you dressed. Take your clothes off and then I'll put your sun cream on"

Lola did as her Mum said so Rachel found the sun cream and then made sure she'd rubbed it in properly, the last thing she wanted to happen was for her daughter to burn on the first day

Lola had to wait a little while until her sun cream had all sunk in, but once it had she put her sun dress on.

Rachel was just about to go and get herself sorted when Emily came in already dressed, so Rachel thought she may as well put her sun cream on whilst she was in there.

"Perfect timing, I'll put your sun cream on. Take your dress off"

Emily took her dress off but then noticed what sun cream Rachel had

"Oh no you're not using that sun cream again are you it makes me look like a ghost"

"Yeah but you only have to put it on once a day, and this one actually works even when you're in and out of the water"

"I bet you're not going to use that one"

"No but I don't need as high a factor as you do because my skins not so pale"

In the end Emily let Rachel put the sun cream on her deciding it was better than having to keep having more rubbed in throughout the day.

"Mum how come Emily's keeping on her bikini when you're doing her sun cream?" Lola asked

"Because she's older than you are so I doubt she'll really want to be standing here without any clothes on"

"But that's not fair I had to"

"Yes but I don't think you really minded considering it was only me here"

Once Rachel had finished Emily went to put her dress back on but Rachel said "leave your dress off for a while, you don't want to get it all covered in sun cream"

"Okay I'll just stay in here then" Emily decided

Rachel decided to go and get into her bikini herself, in the UK she would never wear a bikini if they went to the beach or swimming however when they went abroad she normally wore one. She got one out of the wardrobe before starting to walk out of the room

"Why aren't you getting changed in here Mum?" Lola asked

"I need the loo anyway so I thought I'd just put it on in the bathroom"

Rachel went into the bathroom to sort herself out. When she was going through her wash bag she realised that she'd only picked up her pads and had forgotten her box of tampax. She just used a pad for now but knew she would need to go to the shops to buy some.

Soon they were all ready to head out for a day in the sun.

"I need to nip to the shop quickly, so I'll meet you all by the pool if that's okay" Rachel said as they walked out of their apartment

"What is it you need? I'll go and get it for you" Paul offered

"No it's fine Dad"

"I don't mind, honestly"

"I'll doubt you'll really want to buy what I'm going to get" Rachel said starting to laugh

"Oh okay then"

They locked up their apartment and then went down to the pool. They hadn't really noticed just how big the pool was as it was so dark when they arrived last night. But it seemed really nice and Rachel knew the kids would all have a really good time in it.

Rachel was about to go off when Lola stopped her

"Mum please can I come with you?"

"No you stay here and then you can get straight in the pool"

"I want to stay with you though"

"Okay then, come on let's go" Rachel sighed ever since Rachel and Chris had split up Lola had become even more clingy to Rachel than usual

They walked out of the complex and soon found a little supermarket. Rachel was quick to find the toiletries isle so picked up some tampons.

"Mum what are those?"

"Well you remember when we walked about periods and that you wear those pads to stop the blood going on your knickers, well these do the same thing it just means I can go swimming too"

"How are they different?"

"I think that's something you can wait until you're older to find out about" Rachel replied not wanting to put her daughter off them when she was older as she was still really young

After Rachel had paid they walked back to their complex and went to the toilets so Rachel could get sorted and then found where the others were sitting.

Rachel put her bag down and took off the dress she had on before sitting down on one of the sun loungers.

Of course Lola wanted to get straight in the pool so Finn agreed to take her in as no one else felt like going in quite yet

"Make sure you stay where we can see you" Rachel said

"Yeah we will" Finn replied

Emily really wanted to go swimming with Finn and Lola too but was feeling a bit worried about taking her dress off and just being in her bikini as she was feeling quite self- conscious about starting to develop at the moment.

When Rachel looked over she noticed that her daughter still had her dress on

"Are you not going to take your dress off Em?" Rachel asked

"Yeah I will in a minute"

"You're going to get really bad tan lines if you keep it on"

"Oh yeah, I'll take it off in a minute I'm just a bit cold"

Rachel thought this a bit odd considering it was boiling hot already despite it only being 10 o'clock. However then it clicked that Emily was feeling a bit uncomfortable about just being in a bikini.

She knew that Emily was having a bit of a hard time with this at the minute. Most of her friends had started developing now too so of course she wanted to be like them, but at the same time she was finding it a bit embarrassing in front of her family, especially her brother and grand-parents.

"Do you fancy going for a little walk Em?" Rachel asked wanting to speak to her daughter away from everyone else

"Yeah okay" Emily replied getting off the sun lounger she'd been sitting on

The two of them started walking so then Emily asked "why are we going for a walk Mum?"

"I just wanted a quiet word that's all, are you not taking your dress off because you're feeling a bit self-conscious?"

Emily just shrugged her shoulders to this thinking about how her Mum could work out what was bothering her so easily

"Well you don't need to be"

"I did take my dress off when you were at the shop but it felt like everyone kept looking at me so I put it back on"

"I think you're just being a bit paranoid" Rachel said smiling slightly "but I do know from experience how horrible it can feel when you start to… well look a bit different. But what you've got to remember is that everyone knows you're starting to grow up now and they're not going to say anything"

"I know"

"Also you've got such a lovely figure, you should be showing it off not trying to cover it up"

"Okay I'll take my dress off when we get back then"

They were going to turn back but decided to walk a little bit further and go down and see the beach.

It looked lovely and they were planning on spending the afternoon on the beach so neither of them could wait now.

When they got back to Rachel's parents Emily took her dress off before deciding to join Finn and Lola in the pool.

"Will you come in Mum?" Emily asked

"Yeah okay" Rachel said, really she didn't fancy going in the pool right now that was full of children splashing everywhere but she knew Lola would be there soon anyway begging her to go in

Rachel and Emily both got in the pool and went over to find Lola and Finn

"Mummy" Lola said swimming over to Rachel and wrapping her arms around her

"Hi sweetheart are you having fun?"

"Yeah look at this slide it's so much fun, will you come down it with me?"

"I don't see why not"

Rachel went up the slide with Lola, it wasn't that big but it was quite fast all the same. When she got to the top she saw Emily and Finn racing in the pool. It was nice for her to see the two of them getting along so well, for the moment anyway.

Lola went down first and then Rachel went down after. Just as Rachel reached the bottom Lola decided to splash Rachel catching her off guard.

"You cheeky monkey" Rachel said coming over and picking up Lola before throwing her back in the pool.. However Rachel regretted doing this because now she'd done it once Lola kept asking her to do it again

"Right this is the last time, my arms are starting to hurt" Rachel said after doing it about 10 times

After a while they decided to get out of the pool and go and sunbathe for a bit

"Did you have fun in the pool?" Sue asked

"It was really fun will you come in with me later Grandma?"

"I think I might need to it's so hot"

"What now?"

"Well let's give you a 10 minute rest first"

"Mum I'm thirsty" Lola said

"Okay I've got some water in my bag"

"I don't like water though"

"Well I'm not spending out a fortune buying you drinks all day so have this for now and you can have something different at lunchtime"

After a morning by the pool everyone was starting to feel quite hungry so they decided to go and get some lunch. They found a nice little café quite nearby so went in there.

It was so hot outside so they were all quite glad to be inside for a bit with air con. They could have still sat outside but Rachel thought it would be better if they had a little break from the sun, especially soon as it was the middle of the day now

After lunch Rachel tried to persuade Lola to go back to the apartment for an hour or so to have a little sleep but Lola wasn't having any of that so they ended up all going down to the beach.

By the time they got there all of the sun loungers were being used so they all had to just sit on towels on the sand.

"Look at those boats with slides on Mum, can we go on Mum?" Emily asked

"Yeah but save it for another day maybe?"

"Will I be allowed on it Mum or will I be too small?"

"I think you'll be fine, you'll have to be careful though because we'll all be out of our depth I expect"

The three kids decided to all dig a big hole together with the spades that Paul had just been to buy them so Rachel, Sue and Paul all sat back and relaxed for a little while.

"Mummy look how big out hole is" Lola said

Rachel turned around and was actually quite surprised by how big a hole they'd dug

"Wow, that's massive I hope I don't fall in it"

"Don't worry I'll save you if you do Mummy"

"Thanks love" Rachel said laughing

Rachel started to get a bit worried that the girls were burning so made them both put a t-shirt on. She wasn't so worried about Finn as his skin as darker than theirs naturally

"How am I supposed to get a tan with a top on though?" Emily moaned

"You only need to wear it for an hour or so, and I'm sure you've already got a big of a tan"

"No I haven't I still look exactly the same"

"Wait until you get in the shower tonight"

After they'd finished digging Lola came and laid down on a towel next to Rachel. She was starting to feel really tired now so it didn't take long for her to fall asleep.

Rachel began to feel quite tired herself so decided to close her eyes for a little while too. She'd nearly drifted off to sleep when she felt someone pouring sand into her hair.

She immediately sat bolt upright and turned around to find Finn behind her

"I should have known it would be you" Rachel said frantically brushing all of the sand out of her hair "I'm sure I would've had enough sand in my hair tonight without you doing that thank you very much"

"Well you were about to start snoring and we couldn't have had that"

"Was not, I don't snore"

"Yeah you do Mum" Emily said laughing

"And Emily doesn't lie so it must be true" Finn said with a smug smile on his face

"Oh I see ganging up on your poor Mum are you?"

"No we were actually just saving you from embarrassing yourself"

The rest of the afternoon passed and soon they all made their way back up to the apartment to get ready to go out for the evening.

There was only two bathrooms in the apartment so Rachel knew there would be a massive rush from the kids as soon as they got back

As hard as Finn had tried he got beaten into the bathroom by his sister and in this time Rachel had got into the other one to start running a bath for Lola

"Fine, I'll just wait" Finn said before going out and sitting on the balcony with his Grandma and Grandad

While Lola's bath was running Rachel nipped into the bedroom to unpack her stuff

When she came back she found Lola sat on the bidet with her swimsuit around her knees

"What you doing on there?" Rachel asked

"Going for a wee close the door or everyone will see me"

"Well that's not a toilet that you're sat on you know" Rachel said as she closed the door behind her

"I thought it was a mini toilet, like the ones we have at school when you're in reception. What is it then?"

"It's a bidet"

"What's that?"

"You use it to wash your bum" Rachel said making Lola laugh

"That's strange"

Once Lola was done she jumped into the bath that was now run so Rachel perched on the side next to her

"So are you having a good holiday?"

"Yeah I love it here so much Mum, I never want to go home" Lola said making Rachel smile, there was nothing she loved more than seeing her children happy

"You don't need to be worrying about that yet we've still got ages before we're going home"

"What are we doing tomorrow Mum?"

"I'm not really sure yet darling probably just have another day around the beach"

"Aren't we going in the swimming pool tomorrow?"

"I'm sure we can do that too"

Once Lola had had her bath Rachel wrapped a towel around her and then let the bath water out. Had it not been filled with sand she may have jumped in after her daughter.

Rachel dried Lola off a bit before plastering her in moisturiser.

"Put a pair of knickers on and then wait for a bit before you get dressed, I've put some clothes out on the bed for when you are ready though"

After this Rachel went out to where Sue and Paul were still sat on the balcony

"Do either of you want to go in the bathroom now? Finn's still in the shower I think but the other bathroom is free now"

"No it's alright you go ahead love" Sue replied

"Are you sure because I don't mind waiting?"

"We're still happy sitting out here at the minute"

"Okay then if you're sure" Rachel said before going back to the bathroom and having a shower

She made sure she was quite quick so that her parents could get showered soon.

Once Rachel had finished she went back to the bedroom and put on one of her nice evening dresses. She then went to find Lola as her clothes were still on the bed meaning she wasn't dressed yet

Rachel found Lola sat on her Grandad's knee on the balcony

"Come on then missus lets go and get you dressed"

Lola hopped down off her Grandad's knee before following Rachel into the bedroom

"Do I have to wear that Mum?" Lola asked once she'd seen the outfit her Mum had got out for her

"No I suppose not, go and get something else out then" Rachel sighed Lola used to just wear whatever Rachel chose for her but now she was getting to the age where she wanted to chose for herself

Lola chose a nice skirt and top to put on. Once Rachel had brushed her hair she let her daughter go back out again.

Rachel went to check on Emily who was sat in her room doing her hair

"Hi Mum" Emily said after seeing her Mum come into the room "that's a nice dress"

"Thanks darling" Rachel said smiling at her daughter "so how's the tan coming?"

"I've actually got really good tan lines, look" Emily said before turning around and pulling her top down slightly so that Rachel could see the marks that her bikini had left

"See I told you, you don't realise when you're out in the sun how brown you're going, well or red if you're Grandad"

"Did Grandad burn?"

"Yeah quite badly actually, you'll have to make sure you tell him to put his sun cream on more often tomorrow"

Emily had been making sure they were all keeping topped up on their sun cream all day not wanting them to be browner than her, but Paul just kept telling her that he didn't burn

"Yeah I will"

Rachel stayed chatting to Emily for a bit longer before going back to her bedroom to finish getting ready.

She decided against wearing any foundation as she'd actually got a bit of a tan on her face today, so instead just put on her eye makeup. She didn't bother to straighten her hair either.

This was another thing Rachel liked about being on holiday, not having to put in so much effort with her appearance. Of course Rachel was already very beautiful but back home she wouldn't ever go out without any makeup on or her not straightened.

Once Rachel was ready she went out intending to go and sit out on the balcony, however as she passed Finn and Paul's bedroom she could hear her son on the phone

"Finn you better not be on that phone" Rachel said bounding into the room

A guilty Finn quickly said goodbye before hanging up on his girlfriend.

"How many times have I told you you're not to use that phone while we're away. I don't want a repeat performance of last time because it was ridiculous how huge that bloody bill was" Rachel said referring to when they went to New York last year and Finn had run up a £300 bill

"Sorry it was just a quick phone call"

"I told you if you want to ring her a couple of times then that's fine but I want you to do it on my phone, okay?"

"Okay sorry"

"Good, now are you ready to go?"

"Yeah"

Rachel and Finn both made their way outside where Sue, Lola and Emily were

"Your Dad's only just got in the shower so do you want a drink Rachel?" Sue asked with Lola sat on her lap

"Yeah I'll get it though, I'll get it though. Do you want one?"

"I'll have a gin and tonic please"

Rachel went in the kitchen and made a drink for them both before going back out to sit on the balcony with them all

"I'm really hungry Mum" Emily said

"When are you not hungry?" Rachel replied laughing

"What? I haven't eaten since we had that ice cream on the beach"

"Well we're just waiting for Grandad and then we're going out for something to eat"

"Okay"

It wasn't long and Paul was ready too so they all left to go out for a meal.

All of the restaurants weren't far at all from where they were staying. Sue and Paul had picked a really good location because everything was so close.

Emily was beginning to get really moody, something that always happened when she was hungry so they chose somewhere to eat quite quickly.

They got seated at a table outside so they could still see the beach

The waiter came round to give them all the menus.

"Right what are you going to have Lola asked?"

"Chicken nuggets"

"There's a surprise"

It didn't take long for them to decide what to eat, all apart from Rachel who as usual couldn't decide as everything looked so good

When the waiter came back to take their order she still hadn't decided so just let everyone else order first before eventually making up her mind

"Mummy will you do cheers with me?" Lola asked once their drinks had been brought over

"Cheers" Rachel said as she gently knocked her glass against Lola's, and then everyone else did the same

"Mum my stomach hurts so much" Emily complained

"Why because you're hungry?"

"I think so"

"Well hopefully it won't take too long to come"

It had been about forty minutes and the food still hadn't come so they were all starting to get impatient now. Paul decided to go and find out what was going on.

"They said it shouldn't be too much longer" Paul said once he was back at the table

Emily's stomach was hurting so much now so she really hoped it was going to be here soon

Eventually it did come which they were all pleased about

Emily began to tuck in as soon as the waiter put hers down in front of her however it just seem to make her tummy feel worse.

After the main course everyone was really full so no-one bothered with pudding. Instead they just asked for the bill.

"

Paul paid for it, despite the protests from Rachel and after that they went for a little walk. There were some street entertainers and also someone singing.

"Are you alright love you've gone awfully quiet" Rachel asked Emily

"Yeah my stomach's really hurting though"

"Is it? Is that from when you were hungry?"

"Yeah it just seemed to get worse once I started eating"

"Maybe we'll have to have a few nibbles at the apartment tomorrow before we go out then"

"Good idea"

They stayed out until about 11 before making their way back to the apartment where they all went straight to bed feeling really tired after a great first day of the holiday.

Please review xxxxx


	8. Chapter 8

It was the middle of the night and by now they'd been in Cyprus for about a week.

Lola hadn't been feeling right all night so Rachel had put her to bed quite early hoping that she'd be feeling better after a good nights sleep. However she'd just woken up again and her stomach was hurting quite a lot.

She started tapping her Mum on her shoulder to try and wake her up so Rachel began to stir

"What's up darling?" Rachel asked

"My tummy is really hurting again"

"Well that's not very good is it? Do you think you need to go to the loo?"

"No it's not hurting because of that"

"Do you want some calpol then?" Rachel asked because her daughter had been complaining of stomach ache all night. She never liked to give the kids medicine as soon as they started complaining of something but this had been going on for quite a while now so Rachel was starting to get quite worried

"Yes please Mummy"

"Okay you stay here then and I'll go and get you some"

Rachel flicked on the lamp in the bedroom before going into the kitchen and getting some calpol for Lola.

When she got back to their room Lola was propped up against her pillow in bed and Rachel had to admit that she did look really quite pale

"Here you go love" Rachel said measuring out some medicine on the spoon before giving it to her daughter

It wasn't long after Lola took the medicine when she said "Mum I think I'm going to be sick"

"Okay quickly to the bathroom then" Rachel said helping her daughter up and then guiding her to the bathroom

Lola started being sick as soon as they got to the bathroom, but Rachel was relieved she had made it there in time. Clearing up sick in the middle of the night was definitely not something she felt like doing.

"That's it, good girl" Rachel said rubbing her daughters back

Lola stopped being sick after a while, there wasn't really much for her to bring up though as she'd hardly eaten anything during the day because she seemed to of lost her appetite

"I don't like being poorly Mummy" Lola said sounding really sorry for herself

"I know it's not very nice feeling like this is it? Hopefully you'll feel better now you've been sick though"

"What if I'm still poorly tomorrow though what will we do?"

"I suppose me and you might have to have a day in here, the last thing you're going to want to do is go out in the sun when you feel sick. But we'll just wait and see how you're feeling in the morning shall we?"

Lola gave her teeth a quick clean and then they were just about to head back to bed when Sue appeared in the doorway after hearing someone out of bed for quite a while

"Are you two okay?" Sue asked

"Yeah Lola's just been sick but I think she's feeling a bit better now"

"Oh dear love" Sue said giving Lola's arm a little squeeze "well go back to sleep now and hopefully you'll feel better in the morning"

The three of them went back to bed and although Lola's stomach still felt really sore it didn't take her long to fall asleep snuggled up against Rachel.

The morning soon came around and when Rachel woke up she was pleased to see her daughter was still fast asleep, although clinging onto her Mum incredibly tightly.

Rachel had a bit of a job getting out of bed when Lola had previously been attached to her but eventually she did manage it.

It was still quite early so Rachel wasn't expecting anyone else to be awake but when she got into the kitchen to make herself a coffee she saw that Emily was already up and sat in the lounge.

"You're up early love" Rachel said as she wasn't expecting anyone else to be up for another hour yet at least

"I know, Grandma's snoring really loudly so I can't get back to sleep"

"Oh dear"

Rachel made herself a drink before going to sit down on the sofa next to Emily however just as she did this Emily got up

"Something I said?"

"No I need the loo though"

Emily disappeared into the bathroom.

Whilst she was on the toilet she noticed her Mum's razor on the side of the bath. Emily was getting to the age now where she wanted to start shaving her legs. She was blond so the hairs on her legs weren't that darks but she was starting to become conscious of them all the same.

Seeing her Mum's razor there gave her the perfect opportunity so thought she may run herself a bath and do them later.

However she felt really worried about doing it without telling her Mum as she would probably notice anyway, nothing ever went unnoticed by Rachel. So she decided to just speak to her about it instead.

Once Emily was done she washed her hands before going back in to join her Mum

"I've been thinking" Emily said once she was sat back down

"Have you?"

"Yeah and I was wondering if I could maybe start shaving my legs?"

Emily wondered how her Mum was going to react she thought that she would maybe say that she was too young and she should wait until she was a bit older. However Rachel didn't say any of this, she was just pleased her daughter was finally starting to come to her about things

"Okay, if that's what you want then of course you can"

"Really?"

"Yeah if you're starting to feel uncomfortable with having hairy legs I'm hardly going to make you keep feeling like that am I?"

"I guess I just thought you might say that I'm too young"

"I don't think so you're going to be 12 next month. How about I finish my coffee and then you can give it a go?"

"Okay thanks Mum"

Rachel drank the rest of her coffee and there was still no movement from anyone else so the two of them went into the bathroom and Rachel started to run a bath for Emily, with lots of bubbles.

Once it was done Rachel went out so that Emily could get into the bath, and then she came back in again.

Rachel showed her what to do, and then stayed with her while Emily had a go as the last thing she wanted to happen was for her daughter to cut herself.

Once Emily was done in the bath Rachel went back to her bedroom after deciding to get dressed. When she got in there she saw that Lola was just starting to wake up

"Good morning sweetheart" Rachel said happily perching on the bed next to Lola

"Morning Mum"

"How are you feeling today?"

"I don't feel sick anymore but my tummy does still hurt"

Rachel decided to give her some more medicine

"Do you reckon you need to have a day inside today or do you think you'll be okay to just come and relax on the beach?" Rachel asked she didn't really fancy a day stuck inside but of course she was willing to do this if Lola didn't feel like going out

"I think I'll be okay to go to the beach"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes"

"Okay well I'm going to get dressed now, and then we'll get you up and ready too because we want to get down there early so we can get some sunbeds"

Rachel put her bikini on and rubbed in some sun cream before wrapping a sarong around her waist.

It didn't take long for everyone to get ready and have breakfast so they were soon ready to head down to the beach.

They got to the sunbeds and sat down.

Rachel knew her daughter wasn't right because she just snuggled up against her Mum and closed her eyes. Every other day Lola had just run straight into the water

Emily and Finn decided to go into the sea and they were trying to get Lola to come in with them too, neither of them liked seeing their little sister like this

"Are you sure you don't want to come Lola?" Finn asked

"No thank you"

"You can just lie on the lilo"

In the end Rachel said that she would go in with the two of them so Lola went and had a cuddle with her Grandma

Rachel, Emily and Finn took the rubber ring into the sea and actually went out quite far, much further than they would of if Lola had been with them

"You have a turn Mum" Emily said getting out of the ring herself and beginning to tread water

Rachel sat on top of the ring and was having a quite nice time just bobbing up and down with the waves

All of a sudden a really big wave came, it took Rachel by surprise meaning she fell out of the ring and went under the water

When she came up to the surface she immediately realised that she was no longer wearing her bikini top which was probably because she'd taken the straps off to stop her getting tan lines

She tried to cover herself with her hands the best she could whilst frantically searching for her bikini

Of course Emily and Finn were too busy laughing at their Mum's misfortune to help her look

"It's not bloody funny" Rachel said starting to feel quite embarrassed as there were quite a few other people in the sea too

Emily spotted her Mum's bikini top floating so swam over and got in for her before helping her Mum to put it back on, only this time Rachel made sure it was tied up around her neck not wanting a repeat performance

"Well that was embarrassing" Rachel said

"It was so funny, you should have seen your face Mum" Emily said laughing

After the initial shock of the situation Rachel began to find it quite funny too so they were all still laughing about it when they got back onto the sand

"What are you three laughing at?" Paul asked

"Mum decided to get her boobs out in the middle of the sea" Finn told them

"I didn't choose to, my top came off in a big wave"

Of course Sue, Paul and Lola were all quite amused by the story too.

Even Lola started to giggle for a while, however then she realised that she really needed to get to the toilet

She immediately went over to her Mum and whispered in her ear "Mummy I really need the toilet"

"Okay come on then"

Rachel started to walk across the beach to the toilets with Lola. She was starting to get really worried about her daughter now because she was hunched right over

"Why can't you stand up straight love?" Rachel asked

"Because it makes my tummy hurt too much" Lola replied

Lola rushed into the toilet as soon as they got there and was in there for quite a while

"Are you okay?" Rachel asked once Lola had come back

"I have a bad tummy Mummy"

Rachel noticed how flushed Lola's cheeks were and when she put her hand on her forehead it felt like she had a really high temperature and Rachel was pretty sure it wasn't from the sun as she'd been sat under the umbrella since they got there this morning

By now Rachel was thinking that maybe her daughter needed to be seen by a doctor as she definitely didn't seem right.

Lola could barely walk now so Rachel picked her up and placed her on her hip before carrying back to the sunbeds.

"Is she okay?" Sue asked also feeling worried about Lola

"Not really no, her stomach really isn't right and she's got a temperature too I think we need to get her seen to"

"Okay, do you know where the nearest hospital is?"

"No I was going to go back to the complex and ask at reception"

"Yeah good idea, do you want me to go and get Finn and Emily?" Sue asked as her two eldest grand children had gone back into the sea

"No it's alright, there's no point all of us traipsing to the hospital, as long as you don't mind looking after Finn and Em"

"Of course not make sure you ring if you do need anything though won't you and let me know as soon as you know anything"

"Yeah of course I will"

Rachel got herself and Lola sorted before quickly nipping back to their apartment to put some clothes on and then they went down to reception

The lady there was really helpful. She called them a taxi to take them to the hospital which was about a 20 minute drive.

Luckily it didn't take long for the taxi to come so Rachel and Lola got straight in and the driver already knew where he was going which Rachel was glad about as it appeared he barely spoke any English

Lola fell asleep on the way to the hospital so Rachel felt really bad having to wake her once they arrived

"I want to go to sleep Mummy"

"I know, we'll be sitting down again soon though so you can go back to sleep if you like"

Rachel paid the driver before rushing into the hospital.

It was really busy in there and there was only one lady working at reception at the minute and she didn't speak any English.

Rachel was starting to feel worried now, she just hoped the doctor would speak English

Lola got moved to a bed quite quickly where she was given a hospital gown to change into. Rachel helped her to do this before getting her comfortable on the bed.

They had to wait quite a long time but eventually Lola did get seen by a doctor

Rachel was able to explain to him what was going on as he luckily spoke really good English.

"Right okay, well I'm going to need some bloods and also a urine sample" the doctor told them

"Okay, do you have any idea what's wrong with her?"

"I can't be certain until we get some results, but it sounds likely that Lola has appendicitis"

"Appendicitis? Does that mean she'll need an operation" Rachel said starting to get a bit panicky

"Hopefully not while you're on holiday, we should be able to cure it with some antibiotics. However it is likely she'll develop it again and then it's likely she'll need her appendix removed, but hopefully by then you'll be back in the UK"

The doctor left and a few minutes later a nurse came back to do the blood test

The nurse cleaned her arm so Lola was starting to get a bit scared

"Mummy what do I have to have done to me"

"You need to have a blood test love"

"Is that where the needle goes into your arm?" Lola asked sounding really scared

"Yep"

"Will it hurt?"

"A little bit, but I'll be there with you the whole time so just don't look and you should be fine"

Lola was feeling really scared but she tried her best to be a brave girl, so she just laid there looking away from what the nurse was doing holding tightly to her Mum's hand

"Finished" the nurse said

"Already, but I barely felt it"

"That's because you were so calm and kept so still, well done love" Rachel said feeling quite surprised with how well Lola had coped with that

The nurse left a pot for Lola to do her urine sample

"Right, we need to go to the loo" Rachel said

"Why, do you need a wee Mum? Can't I just wait for you here I don't feel like getting up"

"Nope, you've got to go for a wee in this pot" Rachel said holding it up

"How am I supposed to do that?"

"I'm not entirely sure at the moment but I'm sure we'll get there in the end" Rachel said thinking it was probably going to be quite a difficult task

Rachel helped Lola to walk to the toilets which luckily weren't too far away. She went in with Lola doubting that she'd be able to manage on her own

It was a bit tricky, but eventually they did manage it.

Rachel decided to go to the loo herself while she was in there so after she'd been they both went out and washed their hands

Rachel handed it over to one of the nurses on the way back to the bed.

When get got back Lola got put on a drip because she was dehydrated, and they also started to give her antibiotics through the tube.

Rachel was lying next to her daughter on the bed when she realised she hadn't let her Mum know what was going on so decided to quickly nip and do this

"Lola I just need to ring Grandma, so will you be okay here on your own for a little bit?"

"How long will you be?"

"Not very long, five minutes or so"

"Okay Mum"

"Just press the button like the nurse showed you if you need them"

Rachel then went outside to get a bit of fresh air and ring her Mum

"Hi Mum"

"Rach, how's Lola? What's wrong with her?"

"Well they don't know for certain yet but they think it's appendicitis"

"Oh my god is she having an operation then?"

"No they've put her on antibiotics, which they're hoping should clear it up but it's she will probably need her appendix removed at another time"

"When can she come out?"

"They want to keep an eye on her overnight but she should be able to come home tomorrow, I'm going to stay in here with her"

"Okay well we'll get there as soon as we can"

"You don't want to be hanging around a hospital, honestly Mum I'm fine"

"No, we'll come for a bit even if it's just so you can go and get something to eat, I'm sure you'll want some stuff too"

"Okay thanks Mum" Rachel said starting to feel a bit teary she didn't know why but thought it was probably just from all of the worry

Rachel said goodbye to her Mum before going back in to sit with Lola, who had dropped off to sleep again

Rachel was only planning on resting her eyes but ended up falling asleep too cuddled up beside her daughter.

They both woke up an hour or so later, and it wasn't long after that that Sue, Paul, Finn and Emily arrived

Lola had perked up considerably by this point which they were all glad to see

"I'm really sorry" Lola suddenly said

"What for love?" Rachel asked

"For being poorly and making you all come to the hospital"

"It's not your fault is it love? Couldn't be helped, I'm just glad you're starting to feel better"

"Are you going to go and get something to eat Rachel?" Sue said to her daughter

"No I'm okay, I'll just stay here"

"You need to eat Rachel and if you don't go now I'm sure you won't go when we're gone because you won't want to leave Lola alone for too long, will you?"

"I suppose not" Rachel said with a small smile on her face at her Mum's bossiness

In the end Rachel, Emily and Finn all went to the hospital in the café to have something to eat

"I can't believe we're stuck in a bloody hospital on a day like this" Finn said once they were sat down

"Your sister can't help it you heard how bad she feels about it"

"I didn't mean it like that, I just meant it's not what any of us were expecting"

"I know the timing is a bit unfortunate I have to say"

They all ate their food relatively quickly because they wanted to get back up to the ward to see Lola

All the way back up to Lola, Emily and Finn were bickering. Rachel sighed knowing them getting on so well wasn't going to last forever.

"Stop it you two, we're in a hospital I'd expect behaviour like this from three year olds maybe but not from an 11 and 13 year old"

"Sorry" they both said

However it didn't stop, it was mainly Finn winding his sister up but Rachel had to admit Emily was reacting to it a bit too much

They were all sat around the bed but Emily was starting to get really frustrated with her brother

"I wish you weren't my brother" Emily shouted before storming off

Rachel knew she wouldn't go far so decided to give her a few minutes to cool off before going to speak to her daughter. Emily had been in a fine mood before however this had dramatically changed, Rachel knew this was mainly down to Finn though but also probably her hormones as well

"How many times do I have to tell you not to be so mean to your sister?"

"I was hardly being mean, it's just a bit of fun"

"Well she clearly doesn't see it that way so when she comes back in a minute you need to apologise to her and then I want you both on your best behaviour for Grandma and Grandad tonight, they're not going to want to put up with you when you're like this"

"No your Mum's right Finn, start being a bit nicer to Em, yeah?"

"Fine, it's not like I'm the only guilty one in this though"

Rachel stayed there for a bit longer before deciding to go and find Emily

She thought she'd seen Emily sit down on one of the chairs in reception out of the corner of her eye however when she got there there was no sign of Emily.

So Rachel decided to try the toilets and when she got in there she found her daughter washing her face. When Emily looked at Rachel you could tell she was crying

"What do you want Mum?"

"I just came to check you were okay"

"I'm fine"

"Why are you crying then?"

This just made Emily burst into tears again so Rachel wrapped her arms around her daughter

"I don't even know" Emily cried

Rachel continued to comfort her daughter while she had a little cry

Emily then pulled away and started to dry her eyes

"I'm sorry for shouting earlier Finn was just really getting on my nerves"

"I know but you know what Finn can be like sometimes, you've just got to ignore him when he's being like that"

"I do try to normally"

"Are you ready to come back out now?"

"Yeah okay"

The two of them walked back to Lola's bed, but Emily was feeling a bit embarrassed after her little outburst

"I'm sorry for being horrible to you earlier" Finn said once Emily had returned

"That's okay, I'm sorry too"

"Right well I'm glad that's sorted" Rachel said

They were all talking when the doctor that Lola had seen earlier came back

"We've had Lola's test results and just as she thought Lola does have appendicitis, but I think the antibiotics are working so all being well she should be able to come out tomorrow"

Rachel thanked the doctor and then he left again

"Mummy do I have to stay here all on my own tonight?"

"No I'm going to stay here too love"

"Where are you going to sleep?"

"If there's room I might come in with you or if not I'll just have to sleep on the chair won't I?" Rachel said she definitely wasn't looking forward to spending the night in the hospital as she knew she would barely get any sleep

Sue, Paul, Finn and Emily stayed for a bit longer before deciding to leave again

"I packed you both up some stuff, so I hope you've got everything you need"

"I'm sure we have, as long as we've both got a toothbrush and some clean underwear then we'll be fine"

"Yep think I remembered both of them"

They all said goodbye before Sue and Paul got going with their grandchildren.

"Grandma will we have to pay for the treatment and stuff Lola had in hospital?" Emily asked on the way back in the taxi

"Hopefully not, we've got insurance so hopefully it we'll be covered"

The four of them went back and spent another hour by the pool and then went back to the apartment. It felt strange without Rachel and Lola being there and they were all missing them both.

Luckily back at the hospital Lola was making good progress and starting to feel better which was a huge relief for Rachel.

**Don't know how accurate the hospital bits are, so sorry if it's wrong. Also wanted to say thank you for the reviews, as for the guest who suggested bigger storylines I do have some planned for when they get back from their holiday but if anyone else had any ideas I'd be happy to use them. Also someone asked why I don't write much Reddie in my fics anymore, just fancied a change really but if that's what people want I may start including him a bit more in later chapters. **

**Please review xxxxx**


	9. Chapter 9

Luckily Lola had been allowed to come out of hospital the next day, and although her stomach was still sore she had been able to enjoy the last few days of their holiday.

They were all back home again now and the kids had gone to spend a few days at their Dad's house.

Emily woke up reasonably early in the room that she shared with Lola at the house their Dad had bought.

Once she'd woken up properly she realised that she had a bit of a stomach ache and she generally wasn't feeling too great so stayed in bed for a bit and played on her ipod.

It wasn't long before Lola was awake too, it did feel quite weird for them both having to share a room whenever they went to their Dad's house

"Morning Lola" Emily said to her sister

"Morning"

Lola got straight out of bed and rushed to the loo, something she had to do as soon as she woke up every morning.

Emily decided she may as well get out of bed as well now even though she felt like just staying in bed for the whole day.

When the girls got downstairs they found their Dad making a cup of coffee in the kitchen

"Daddy" Lola said running over and wrapping her arms around her Dad

Chris loved it so much when the kids were staying over, he missed waking up and them being there all the time it felt so lonely without them.

"Hi sweetheart did you have a good sleep?"

"Yes thank you"

"Good, I hope you didn't wake Emily up really early again like you did yesterday" Chris said talking about yesterday when Lola had woken her sister up which is what Chris had put Emily's bad mood down to yesterday

"No I didn't she was already awake"

"Well that does make a change"

Once Finn was up too they sat round the table to have breakfast together

"So what do you fancy doing today?" Chris asked his children

"Please can we go swimming Dad?"

"If that's what you want to do, we'll have to go back to Mum's first though so you can get all of your stuff. Are you two both happy to do that?"

"Yeah" Emily said, she didn't really feel like going swimming but she knew Lola would be disappointed if they didn't go, and also how disappointed her Dad would be if she didn't go out with them for the day

"What about you Finn?"

"Yeah that's fine but I'm going over to Abbie's later"

"Okay"

After breakfast they all went upstairs to get ready to go out and then they drove round to Rachel's house to pick up their swimming stuff

"What are you doing here?" Rachel asked after opening the door for them

"We're going swimming Mummy so we need our stuff"

"That will be nice"

Chris came in too and talked to Rachel for a bit while they all went upstairs to pick up their stuff. Of course Chris and Rachel still had their moments where they would argue, but they were definitely getting along much better now and managing to be civil to one another for the sake of the kids

After a while Rachel went upstairs to check that they had everything, especially Lola who was bound to forget something.

She went into Lola's bedroom and started to check through her bag

"Where's your swimsuit?" Rachel asked

"I put it on under my clothes" Lola replied

"Well don't you need to pack some knickers then?"

"Oh yeah" Lola said before going into her drawer and getting a pair out and putting them into her bag

Once Lola had everything Rachel went in to see Emily, who was sat on her bed

"Got everything?"

"Yep I think so"

Rachel noticed that Emily had one of her hands resting on her stomach and she also seemed quite quiet so decided to check that she was okay

"You okay love?"

"Yeah I just have a bit of a stomach ache that's all"

"Oh do you when did that come on?"

"This morning"

"Well if you don't feel up to swimming you could always just sit in the café and watch or something"

"Yeah I know"

They were soon all ready to go so they said goodbye to Rachel and then drove to the swimming pool.

Chris paid for them before they went into the changing rooms.

Lola wouldn't go in the mens changing rooms anymore with her Dad meaning that Emily was going to have to see to her

Both Emily and Lola already had their swimming stuff on under their clothes so it didn't take long for them both to be ready.

"Do you need a wee before we go in Lola?" Emily asked

"No"

"Well do you think you ought to go in anyway? Just so that then you won't need to go when we're in the pool"

Ever since Rachel and Chris split up Emily had become really responsible in terms of looking out for Lola, especially when they were at their Dad's

Both girls went to the loo before going out to the swimming pool where they met up with Chris and Finn

The pool was full of kids splashing everywhere. Normally Emily wouldn't have a problem with this but today she was feeling like rubbish and all she really felt like doing was going and getting into bed to watch a film.

She knew this wasn't an option though so instead she jumped into the pool with Lola.

"Can we jump in again?" Lola asked as soon as they'd got in

"Yep" Emily said reluctantly before getting out just to get back in again

"Are you alright Em? You don't seem your normal self today, well you haven't seemed your normal self for the last couple of days"

"I'm fine" Emily replied although her Dad was unconvinced

They stayed in the swimming pool for a while but Emily was glad when they decided to get out as her stomach was feeling really sore.

When they got out Emily sent Lola into the showers while she went and got all of their stuff out of the locker. She then went in the shower herself and made sure Lola washed her hair

"Take your swimsuit off" Emily said to her sister

"But everyone will see" Lola said as there were no shower cubicles, it was just open

"That doesn't matter, it will just be easier if you do it in here"

Lola took her swimsuit off and had a quick wash before Emily wrapped a towel around her. Emily wrapped a towel around herself too before they both went into a cubicle together to get changed

Lola was being a bit of a pain and wouldn't do anything for herself so Emily was starting to get a bit frustrated.

Emily passed Lola her top to put on but Lola dropped it on the floor in a puddle of water

"For god sake Lola, try and be careful" Emily said quickly grabbing the top "it's going to be all wet now"

"Sorry"

Luckily it hadn't got too wet so Emily put the top over her sister's head and then finished getting her sister changed

"Right go and sit on that bench over there while I get changed" Emily said before letting her sister out

Emily got changed herself before going out to Lola

"Come on let's go" Emily said bossily

"Why are you being so horrible to me?" Lola asked starting to get a bit upset she wasn't used to Emily talking to her like this usually her sister was so nice and kind to her

"I'm not being horrible but you're just being a pain"

"No I'm not"

The girls walked up to the café in silence where they were meeting Chris and Finn

"You two took your time" Finn said

"Why don't you try getting Lola changed next time and then see how long it takes you?" Emily snapped

"Daddy Emily isn't being very nice to me"

"I haven't done anything"

"Yes you have"

"Girls, that's enough"

Emily had been in a really bad mood for the last couple of days and everyone was starting to get a bit fed up with it

"I was going to buy you lunch in the café but do you think we need to just get straight back?"

"But I want to have lunch here Daddy" Lola said

"No we'll be fine" Emily sighed before sitting down

Emily was really quiet through the whole of lunch and Chris was starting to feel a bit concerned about her.

It appeared that Emily was in another bad mood just like she had been yesterday so Chris decided to just spend the afternoon at home knowing nobody would have a nice afternoon out with Emily being like this.

"I'm going to go to Abbie's now" Finn said

"Okay Finn, do you want a lift over?" Chris offered

"No it's not far I'll walk"

"Okay see you later then"

Finn left so Chris went and got into the car with the girls.

"Shall we get a DVD on or something?" Chris asked when they got in

Both girls liked the idea of this so they chose one and then put it on.

While they were sitting Emily did start to feel a bit bad with how she'd been treating everyone the last couple of days, she knew it wasn't fair but she couldn't seem to help it. Everything anyone did was just winding her up

After the film had finished Emily and Lola both went up to their room while Chris made a start on tea

"I'm really sorry for being horrible to you Lola" Emily said

"It's okay, I'm sorry if I was being a pain"

"You weren't being a pain, I was just in a bit of a mood wasn't I?"

"You were quite stroppy" Lola laughed

Lola went back downstairs to sit in the kitchen and do some drawing while Chris was cooking however Emily didn't feel like going back downstairs as she was in a lot of pain now with her stomach.

Finn came home soon and Abbie came too as Chris had said she could come for tea.

The tea was soon ready so Chris sent Lola up to get Emily

"Emily, Dad said tea's ready"

"I'm not hungry"

"Why not?"

"I've got a stomach ache" Emily told her

"Oh, have you got what I had when I had to go to hospital"

"No I don't think so" Emily said but she wasn't really sure why her stomach was hurting so much, she hoped she didn't have appendicitis like Lola had

Lola was about to leave again when Emily said "Lola would you mind bringing me up a hot water bottle?"

"Okay"

Lola went back down to the kitchen and told Chris what Emily had said, which made Chris worry quite a lot about his daughter

He filled her up a hot water bottle and then decided to take it up himself

"Are you okay darling?"

"Yeah I just have a really bad stomach ache for some reason"

"Oh well that's not very good, shout if you need anything won't you?"

"Yeah I will"

Chris then went back downstairs to eat his tea

After a while Emily needed the loo so got up and went to the bathroom. As soon as she sat down she noticed that her knickers were covered in blood, which shocked her so much she hadn't been expecting this at all.

Emily had no idea what to do now, she really just wanted her Mum. There was no way she could tell her Dad, that would just be too embarrassing. She thought about telling Abbie as she might have some pads on her, but again decided it was too embarrassing.

Emily sat there for ages trying to figure out what to do. She let a few tears roll down her face as she really was so shocked and worried, she wasn't expecting to start her periods yet she thought that she would have at least started secondary school.

After sitting on the loo for a while Emily put some toilet roll in her knickers before going out, but she was feeling sick with worry now.

She knew she couldn't stay at her Dad's house tonight because she was so worried about leaking onto the bed so Emily decided to go and ask her Dad to take her home

"Dad I'm really sorry but would you be able to take me home?"

"Why darling?"

"I just don't feel very well and I need to see Mum" Emily said bursting into tears

Chris felt a bit disappointed that his daughter wanted to go home, but he didn't want to keep her there if she was feeling unhappy.

"Course I can love, is it okay if I finish my tea first?"

"Yeah"

Emily went upstairs and packed up all of her stuff, they were going home tomorrow morning anyway so she wasn't coming home that early. She then nipped to the bathroom again before going and lying down on the sofa clutching her stomach.

Rachel was at home with Eddie. He'd come over earlier as they needed to do some school stuff however he'd ended up staying for dinner and they were now sat in Rachel's lounge getting through a bottle of wine.

It had been so good having Eddie there as Rachel had been feeling so down all week with the kids being at their Dad's so she'd been really glad of Eddie's company and he'd definitely cheered her up loads.

Rachel was about to pour them another glass of wine each when there was a knock at the door

"Wonder who that is" Rachel said before getting off the sofa to go and answer the door

She was surprised when she saw Chris and Emily stood on the doorstep, and she was even more surprised when she saw her daughter's tearstained face.

"What's happened?"

"I just wanted to see you Mum"

Rachel immediately wrapped her arms around her daughter where Emily began to sob

"I don't know what's happened Rach she said she had a stomach ache and then she just wanted to come home"

"Okay, well come into the lounge. Do you want to stay for a bit Chris?"

"No I'd better get back home, I'm sure Finn and Abbie will have had enough of Lola by now" Chris said laughing

"Okay see you tomorrow then"

Chris gave his daughter a cuddle before leaving.

Emily made her way into the lounge starting to feel a bit worried about telling her Mum. However she got a shock when she saw Eddie in there

"Hi Emily" Eddie said

"Hi" Emily said feeling embarrassed because she was still crying and she hadn't been expecting Eddie to be in there

"We've just been going through some school stuff" Rachel explained

"Yeah but I'd better get going now" Eddie said realising that Emily needed some time alone with her Mum

"Okay, you're not driving home are you?" Rachel asked knowing Eddie had drank way too much to be driving anywhere

"No think I'll have to get a taxi and then pick the car up in the morning"

"I'll ring one for you"

Rachel rang him a taxi and they said they'd be 10 minutes.

Once the taxi arrived Eddie said goodbye before going out and getting in the taxi.

After seeing Eddie out of the front door Rachel returned to the lounge and sat down on the sofa next to Emily

"Do you want to tell me what you're so upset about now?" Rachel asked her daughter

"Do you promise you won't tell anyone? Not Dad or Grandma or…"

"I promise"

"I got my period" Emily said quietly

Rachel was a little surprised by this as she hadn't been expecting her daughter to get it quite this early, but come to think of it she'd been very emotional and snappy recently and kept getting into really bad moods

"Oh sweetheart come here" Rachel said pulling her daughter into her chest as she knew what a big thing this must be for Emily and how scared she was probably feeling

"I don't like it Mum" Emily cried

"I know it seems horrible at the minute but I promise you will get used to it after a while. When did it start?"

"Just before I came home, I went to the loo and when I pulled my pants down they were covered in blood"

"I suppose that was quite a horrible surprise then, shall we go upstairs and get you sorted?"

"Yeah"

Emily followed her Mum upstairs and they went into Rachel's bathroom

"Here's a new pack of pads so I'll put them in your bathroom cupboard but there's still some in mine too so you can help yourself to those as well"

"What if Finn sees them though then he'll know"

"He won't take any notice when they're in the cupboard amongst other things. So if you go and get a clean pair of knickers and get yourself sorted and then bring your dirty stuff down so I can put it straight in the wash"

"Okay" Emily said before going off to get herself sorted

She soon came back downstairs in her pyjama so Rachel put a load of washing on

"How's your stomach feeling now? Is it still hurting?"

"Yeah it hurts loads"

"Did Dad give you any painkillers?"

"No"

"Okay well you go and sit down and I'll bring you some in and a hot water bottle"

Emily went straight into the lounge and flicked the TV on before getting comfy on the sofa. Rachel came in a few minutes later with all of the stuff

"Thanks Mum, and thanks for helping me out"

"That's okay darling, it's what I'm here for isn't it? Is there anything you want to talk about?"

"No I don't think so"

"Well just come and find me if there is, no point in keeping it to yourself"

"I will"

Emily snuggled into her Mum, she felt a lot better after telling her Mum but she did still feel really scared by it so was extremely glad of Rachel's help.

Rachel poured herself another glass of the wine that she'd been sharing with Eddie.

"Why was Eddie here Mum?" Emily asked

"I already told you, we had some school stuff to go through"

"Well why were you sat on the sofa drinking wine with no work out when I came?"

"Because we'd finished, we are allowed to have a bit of fun too you know"

"I know" Emily said, although she did actually feel a little worried that her Mum and Eddie had started dating or something.

She knew her parents had been apart for over six months now but there was still a bit of hope left in her that her parents were going to get back together

"What do you fancy doing? Do you want to put a film on or something?" Rachel asked

"Yeah okay, you can choose it though I can't be bothered to move"

"Whenever I choose you always moan and then we end up putting on a different one" Rachel said but she went over to the DVDs and chose one anyway

In the end Rachel decided to put the notebook on. She'd bought it a while back because both her and Emily really wanted to watch it however they hadn't had chance because Finn and Lola never wanted to watch it.

Emily was really enjoying the film but then it got to the bit where they're about to have sex so she felt her cheeks turn bright red.

Rachel saw this but didn't say anything knowing it would just embarrass her daughter even more.

By the end of the film Emily and Rachel both had tears rolling down their faces. Rachel knew it was meant to be a sad film, but she had no idea it was going to be this sad so it probably wasn't a good choice considering Emily was already feeling really emotional because of her period.

It took them a good five minutes once the film had finished to stop sobbing.

"So did you enjoy that?"

"Yeah it was really good, just really sad though"

"I know maybe I should have picked something a bit more light hearted"

"No I'm glad we watched it who knows when we'd have got chance otherwise"

"That's true"

After the film Rachel turned everything off downstairs before they both went up to bed.

Rachel was in her en suite trying to get off all the smudged mascara from around her eyes when Emily came in.

"Mum how often do I need to change my pad?"

"Every few hours love"

"So should I change it now?"

"Yeah I would, it's always nice to feel nice and fresh before you go to bed anyway I think"

Emily then went out again to go and get ready for bed herself. Once she was all done Rachel came into tuck her in.

"How's your stomach now?"

"I think it's starting to feel a bit better now thank you"

"That's good, hopefully it won't last too much longer normally it's worse before you come on and then for the first day or so"

"Okay night Mum"

"Night darling see you in the morning, sleep well"

Rachel kissed her daughter on the forehead before going and getting into bed. She had lots on her mind tonight so it took her quite a while to drop off to sleep.

When the morning came around Emily was glad to be feeling quite a bit better than she did yesterday, although her stomach was still hurting a bit.

Emily knew Finn and Lola weren't coming home until about lunchtime so was looking forward to spending the morning just her and her Mum again.

She put on her dressing gown before making her way to her Mum's bedroom to check she wasn't still in bed. When there was no sign of Rachel, Emily made her way downstairs.

When she got to the bottom of the stairs she was surprised to hear her Grandma in there talking to her Mum

"How come Emily came home last night then?" Emily heard her Grandma ask

"She wasn't feeling too great"

"Oh really? What was wrong with her?"

Emily didn't go in for a minute, just stayed in the hallway listening to their conversation because she was really worried her Mum was going to tell her Grandma about her starting her period, she hoped Rachel wouldn't because she had promised she wouldn't but it didn't stop her from panicking.

"She had a stomach ache and I think she was just feeling generally unwell"

"How come she didn't want to stay with Chris?"

"You know what the girls are like when they're not very well, they're both Mummy's girls when they're poorly" Rachel said smiling

Emily let out a sigh of relief that her Mum hadn't said anything so then she went into the kitchen

"Morning Em" Sue said

"Morning love, have you been awake long?" Rachel asked as Emily walked into the kitchen

"No I just woke up" Emily said before going and sitting down at the table beside her Mum

"Are you feeling better today?"

"Yeah a lot better thank you"

"That's good, you're still looking lovely and brown" Sue said which was true Emily really had turned a lovely colour whilst they'd been in Cyprus

"I wish I could stay this colour though, it will fade really quickly now"

"Well hopefully you'll be able to keep it for a bit back here, the weather's looking good today"

"What are we doing today Mum?"

"I thought we could just have a day in the garden and stuff if that's alright with you"

"Yeah okay"

Sue stayed for a while but then she left to go home again.

"I spoke to your Dad earlier, he's dropping them back at about 10 now because he's going into Manchester to watch the football"

"Oh right" Emily said and Rachel could tell she sounded a bit disappointed

"Don't worry though I'm sure they'll be other times in the holiday for us to have a bit of time just the two of us"

"I like it when we do things just the two of us Mum"

"Yeah me too, maybe we could go out for the day or something. I'll get Finn or Grandma to look after Lola"

"That would be nice" Emily smiled

Another half an hour passed and Chris soon arrived back with Finn and Lola

Lola was really glad to see her Mum, as much as she'd enjoyed spending time with her Dad she was definitely glad to be home again.

"Hiya Em, are you feeling better now?" Chris asked his daughter

"Yeah a lot better now thank you" Emily said going over to give her Dad a hug, she did feel bad after going home early last night but she really had just needed her Mum

"That's good sweetheart, anyway kids I'd better go now I'm being picked up in 20 minutes"

They all said bye to Chris and then he left. Rachel noticed that Finn seemed to be in a bit of a mood.

"What's wrong with you"

"What's up with you?" Rachel asked her son

"Just thought Dad might have taken me to watch the football"

"Well did you tell him you wanted to go"

"No but I shouldn't have to"

"Well tell him next time and I'm sure he will, anyway you need to help me sort out for this party tomorrow"

"What's there to do?"

"Everything, so we'd best get started"

They all had a nice quiet day around the house and garden together and by the end of it Rachel was certainly feeling more prepared for Finn's party that he was having for his Birthday than before.

**Please review xxxxx**


	10. Chapter 10

It was the day of Finn's fourteenth birthday. That was the good thing about having your Birthday in the summer holidays, no school!

Finn eventually got out of bed and went into the kitchen where his Mum and sisters were

"Happy Birthday Finn" Rachel said going over and giving her son a big kiss which made Finn pull a face

"Mum" Finn said pushing his Mum off

"Happy Birthday" Lola said after going over to give her big brother a hug and a card

Finn sat at the table while Rachel made them all a fry up for breakfast, Finn's choice

"Can I have my presents now?" Finn asked impatiently

Rachel rolled her eyes before saying "No me and your Dad have still bought your Birthday present together so you'll have to wait until lunchtime"

"Okay"

"I know what it is" Lola teased

"What is it?" Finn whispered so that his Mum couldn't hear

"I can't tell you or it wouldn't be a surprise silly"

"Can me and Lola give him our present now Mum?" Emily asked

"Yeah I guess so" Rachel said so Emily disappeared upstairs to get it with Lola following closely behind

The two girls were soon back downstairs again so went to give their present to Finn together

"Thanks you two" Finn said after opening a couple of xbox games that he'd been wanting

Rachel had soon finished cooking the breakfast so laid it all out on the table

"What time are we going for lunch Mum?" Emily asked

"The table's booked for 1, why?"

"I was just wondering"

They were in the middle of breakfast when the phone started to ring

"Do you want to get that Finn? It will probably be for you" Rachel said to her son

"Yeah okay" Finn said before getting up from the table to answer the phone

He expected it was probably going to be his Grandma because she hadn't rang yet however when he picked up he didn't recognise the voice

"Hi is it possible to speak to Rachel Mason please?" the lady on the phone asked

"Yeah I'll just pass you on" Finn said politely before going back into the kitchen

"It's for you Mum" Finn said quietly after passing the phone to him Mum

"Who is it?" Rachel whispered to which Finn shrugged his shoulders

"Hello"

"Hi, this is Mrs Fisher" Rachel thought she recognised the voice and then it suddenly clicked that it was the lady who had given the admissions talk for the grammar school that Emily had wanted to go to "I'm just phoning to let you know that a place has opened up for Emily"

"Really? How?" Rachel asked shocked before going out of the kitchen

The three kids looked at each other wondering what was going on

Rachel was on the phone for a while whilst Mrs Fisher explained how Emily only missed out by one place however now someone had dropped out meaning that she'd actually got in.

After another few minutes Rachel got off the phone. She felt so pleased because she knew how happy Emily was going to be. Although Emily had been trying to act as though she didn't mind that much, Rachel knew that it was actually bothering her quite a bit

"Who was that Mum?" Emily asked as soon as Rachel was back in the kitchen

"It was Mrs Fisher"

"What did she want?" Emily asked astonished

"She was ringing to tell us that you got in" Rachel said making a smile appear immediately on her daughter's face

"Are you joking?"

"Of course I'm not, why would I joke about something like that?"

"I can't believe it" Emily said before rushing over to her Mum and giving her a massive hug

"Well done darling, I told you things would work out didn't I?"

"At least you don't have to go to the same school as Mum now, you'll still be able to escape her during the day" Finn said only half joking

Once they'd finished their breakfast the kids quickly disappeared leaving Rachel to clear the kitchen

"I guess I'll clear up then" Rachel said to herself rolling her eyes at her kids.

Usually Emily would help without having to be asked, unlike Finn and Lola, however Rachel knew she was probably just desperate to go upstairs and tell her friends

After she'd finished she went up to her bedroom to start getting ready. She had a quick shower before getting out and wrapping a towel around herself.

After rubbing her moisturiser in Rachel went back to her bedroom to try and decide what to wear.

She eventually decided on a nice skirt and top so laid it out on her bed before going to her chest of drawers to get her underwear out

Rachel had just put her bra on when the door she saw her door starting to open

"I'm just getting changed" Rachel called as she didn't really want Finn barging in when she was only wearing her underwear, to be fair though he would probably knock

"It's only me Mum" Lola said as she walked through

"Oh hi love is everything okay?"

"Mum do you know where my white dress is?"

"I think it's in your wardrobe, why?"

"Because I want to wear it today but I couldn't see it in there"

"I think it is, but it's probably not the best thing to wear today is it?"

"But you said we had to wear something nice because it's Finn's birthday"

"Yeah I know but it's not really the weather for a white summery dress" Rachel said listening to the rain hitting against the window

"What should I wear then?"

"Give me two minutes to get some clothes on and then I'll come and help you decide shall I?"

"Okay thanks Mum"

Rachel put her skirt and top on before going through to her daughter's bedroom to help her decide what to wear. They found her another dress to wear that wasn't so summery

Rachel had just finished doing her makeup as it was nearly time to go so she decided to go and check on Emily.

However when she got into Emily's bedroom she was laid on her bed on her ipad still in her pyjamas. She had Lola with her too who had been following Rachel around for the last hour because she was bored

"Em have you not seen the time?"

"What time is it?"

"Half 12, we're leaving in fifteen minutes come on get ready"

"Okay I'll get ready now"

Rachel rushed over to Emily's wardrobe to pick her out something to wear. She picked something out to show Emily but when she turned around she saw that Emily was still on her ipad

"Come on Em, we are in a rush now you know"

"Sorry I was just saying bye" Emily said before putting her ipad down she then noticed the outfit Rachel was holding up and she definitely didn't approve "no way am I wearing that, I've had it since I was like 7"

"Yeah and you still haven't worn it because you were always insisting it was too big"

"Well now I don't like it"

Emily stood in front of her Mum and picked out something to wear herself

"You get changed, I'll plug your straighteners in" Rachel said knowing her daughter wouldn't go out without straightening her hair

Rachel plugged the straighteners in but when she turned around Emily wasn't getting changed

"Why aren't you getting changed?"

"I'm not getting changed with you and Lola in here"

"Fine we're going out, but please hurry up and get ready" Rachel said before both her and Lola went out

Eventually Emily came down the stairs ready to go.

"Finally, come on let's go we're let enough as it is"

They got into the car and drove to the restaurant. When they got inside they realised they were the last ones there, even Chris was already in there and he was never on time for anything.

They all said Happy Birthday to Finn as they came in and then the four of them sat around the table. Rachel sighed realising she was sat close to Chris, she was hoping to be sat a bit further away from him.

As much as Finn did enjoy spending time with his family, really he just wanted it to be tonight because he was really looking forward to his party now. He was so shocked that his Mum was actually allowing him to have it.

They ordered their food, which actually didn't take too long to come considering how many of them there were.

After they'd eaten Chris went out to the car. Everyone was wondering where he'd gone but he shortly came back in with Finn's present.

"Happy birthday mate, this is from me and your Mum" Chris said handing the present to his son

Finn opened it and saw it was an iphone. He'd been begging Rachel for a new phone for ages but she kept saying there was nothing wrong with the one he already had

"Thanks Mum, thanks Dad" Finn said

"Hang on a minute what makes you think it's actually an iphone? It might just be the box" Rachel said, she was only joking but Finn immediately opened up the box and saw that it actually was an iphone

"Only joking"

After the waitress came around so that they could order their dessert Emily realised she could do with going to the toilet so whispered to her Rachel "Mum please will you come to the toilet with me?"

"Yep, come on then"

The two of them were about to walk away from the table when Rachel realised she should probably check if Lola needed to go as well

"Lola do you need to go to the loo?" Rachel asked

"Yeah" Lola replied before getting up to come with them

Emily didn't really want her to come, as she'd forgotten to bring any pads with her so was planning to ask Rachel for one but she didn't really want to say anything in front of Lola

As soon as they got to the toilets Lola went into one of the cubicles

"I thought you needed to go?" Rachel said to Emily

"I do but I need to ask you something first"

"Go on then"

"Do you have any pads with you, I forgot to bring any" Emily said quietly

"Yeah here you go" Rachel said passing one to her daughter

Once Emily and Lola had been to the loo they returned to the table

Emily started chatting to Amber, and Lola and Finn were talking to their Grandma so somehow Rachel ended up starting a conversation with Chris.

Rachel still found it hard to be around Chris because she was still really upset about him leaving her, but she was trying her best not to let this on. She was pleased when the desserts came meaning that she could see to Lola instead

After a nice meal with the family Rachel drove Finn, Emily and Lola home

"Mum you're not going to stay here tonight are you?" Finn asked starting to get a bit worried her Mum was planning on staying in

"No I'm going to take Emily and Lola to the cinema and then they're going to stay at Grandma's tonight, I'm going to come home at about 11 though"

"11? That's well early why can't you come home later?"

"I'm not saying everyone has to leave then, I'm just not staying out any later"

Finn knew there was no way he could change his Mum's mind so just went along with it, he was lucky she had agreed to the party in the first place

The afternoon passed really quickly and soon it was time for Rachel and the girls to get going.

Rachel finished up preparing the last of the food before shouting the three of them down.

"Right we're off now Finn"

"Okay, see you later" Finn said about to go back upstairs

"Hang on a second, don't think I'm going to leave without setting any rules. I don't want any alcohol or smoking tonight, I don't want anyone going through my stuff well no-one's to go upstairs and just… well be sensible" Rachel said starting to feel unnerved by the thought of loads of her pupils in her house

"Yes Mum, don't worry everything we'll be fine"

"Okay well have a good night then won't you?"

It wasn't long after Rachel and the girls left that everyone started arriving.

Rachel had refused to buy them any alcohol for tonight so Finn had told everyone to bring some with them.

Finn saw Abbie arrive with a couple of her friends so went over to her and started chatting.

It didn't take long for everyone to get really drunk as most of them there were only 14 so they weren't really used to drinking.

Rachel really wasn't going to be happy if she came home to find her pupils in this state but Finn was too drunk to care.

It was getting later now and Finn was starting to not feel too good.

He went to go to the downstairs toilet however there was already someone in there so he decided to make his way upstairs. Luckily he did manage to get his head over the toilet before he started to be sick.

Once he'd been sick Finn felt a lot better so went back downstairs to join back in with the party and began drinking again.

Abbie tried to get Finn to drink some water when he came downstairs, however he wouldn't and instead took another bottle that his friend was passing to him.

"Cheers mate"

Abbie wasn't having a very good time and she hated seeing Finn like this. She hadn't been drinking either and people were starting to pick up on this and were pressuring her into it.

"You can't make me drink something I don't want to" Abbie snapped to one of her friends before going up to Finn's stuff and grabbing her bag of stuff, as she was meant to be sleeping over tonight, and then leaving.

Finn didn't even realise that she'd left.

Rachel was sat at her Mum and Dad's house in the lounge when she noticed the time

"Right I think I'm going to get back now"

"Okay, we'll drop Lola off in the morning if you like" Sue offered

"Thanks Mum" Rachel smiled "I'll see you tomorrow"

Rachel and Emily then walked out to the car. Even though Emily was originally going to stay the night she'd changed her mind and said she wanted to come home with her Mum.

"Oh god I hope they haven't made a mess" Rachel said as they got nearer to home

Emily laughed knowing it was likely the house would be a tip when they got back

Although Rachel was expecting it to be loud and messy when she got in, there was no way she was expecting this.

It was obvious how drunk everyone was, despite her telling Finn that there was to be absolutely no alcohol, and there were empty bottles and cans everywhere.

Rachel made her way through the house trying to find Finn, Emily was following her closely feeling quite intimidated by the party

Rachel eventually recognised the back of her son in the utility room. It wasn't until she walked into the room that she realised what he was doing.

Finn was weeing all over the clean washing that was in the ironing pile

"Bloody hell" Rachel said before going over to stand in front of her son

"Get to your room now" Rachel shouted

Finn just laughed before going into the lounge

"Em go upstairs love, I'll just sort this lot and then I'll be up" Rachel said trying her best to remain calm even though she was extremely angry

Emily went upstairs. She opened her bedroom door and was about to go in when she saw a boy and a girl on her bed. She wasn't really sure what they were doing but she felt really uncomfortable

"Sorry" Emily muttered before closing the door behind her. She didn't know what to do so made her way to her Mum's bedroom hoping there wouldn't be anyone in there. Luckily when she got there her Mum's bedroom was empty so she went and laid down on her Mum's bed. She was really tired and just wanted to go to sleep

Rachel went into the lounge and somehow managed to turn off the music before shouting at everyone to get out.

Everyone was quick to leave after the appearance of their angry head teacher so soon it was just her and Finn left in there

"I told you to get to your bedroom, I don't even want to look at you right now"

Finn flounced out of the room and went upstairs leaving Rachel down there to start clearing up. She really hadn't expected this of Finn, she thought she could trust him but clearly not.

After making a good start on the mess downstairs Rachel went upstairs deciding to leave the rest for Finn to do tomorrow. As she was passing the bathroom she heard someone being sick in there. She went over and opened the door, presuming it was Finn.

Rachel sighed starting to calm down now. Of course she was still angry with him but she also knew what teenagers were like, what with working with over 600 of them every day.

"Feel a bit better now?" Rachel asked once her son had finished being sick

"Kind of" Finn said also starting to feel more aware now "I'm really sorry Mum"

"We'll talk about it in the morning Finn" Rachel said dismissively before walking out. Even if she had calmed down a bit now Rachel wasn't about to let him off lightly that was for sure

Rachel went into check on Emily but was surprised when her daughter wasn't in there.

When she got to her bedroom she found Emily fast asleep on her bed still in her clothes, making Rachel wonder what she was doing

Rachel quickly went into Emily's room and got one of her baggy pyjama tops before coming back and easing Emily's skirt and top off and slipping the top over her head, being careful not to wake her.

Rachel put the quilt over her daughter before going to get ready for bed herself.

When Emily woke up the next morning she was a bit confused at first about why she was in her Mum's bed, but then she remembered how she'd ended up in there.

She looked up and saw Rachel was already awake

"Morning love" Rachel said smiling

"Morning" Emily replied

"How come you went to sleep in here last night?" Rachel asked

"Oh there were people in my room when I got up there so I just came in here and I guess I must have fallen asleep"

"Really what were they doing in your room? Were there many people in there?"

"Urmm I don't know, and no just a boy and a girl" Emily said her cheeks blushing a bit as she remembered

Rachel was shocked at this. Goodness knows what her daughter had walked in on, but by the sounds of it not something a girl of her age should have.

"I shall be having some serious words with that boy this morning I tell you"

Emily went back into her bedroom whilst Rachel got out. She had a quick shower and wrapped a dressing gown around herself before going to wake Finn up.

"Finn, up now" Rachel said quite sternly

"It's still the middle of the night, go away" Finn mumbled

"No it's eight o clock, and I'd suggest you get up now unless you want to make me any madder than I already am"

"Fine, just give me five more minutes" Finn begged

"I'm going to go and dry my hair and then I want a few words so I want you in the lounge in fifteen minutes, got that?"

"Yep"

Finn stayed in bed for a bit longer. As much as he didn't want to he did then get out because he didn't want to put his Mum in a worse mood than she already was.

After 10 minutes Finn went downstairs so Rachel was surprised when she got down and he was already sat on the sofa

"Right, what've you got to say for yourself about last night then?"

"I'm sorry"

"You do realise that your behaviour was completely unacceptable, you didn't stick to any my rules, you went behind my back, not to mention the state you got the house into"

"It's a party Mum, it's meant to be fun"

"So you're telling me at the age of fourteen you need to drink to have fun?"

"Well no but it would have been a pretty crap party if everyone was sober wouldn't it?"

"I don't care, if I'd have known that was your intention from the beginning I wouldn't have let you have the party in the first place"

"That's why I didn't tell you"

"I'd stop talking if I were you, you're just getting yourself into an even deeper hole. I haven't even mention the fact your sister walked into two of your friends doing things that they probably shouldn't have been"

"Maybe she should have knocked"

"They were in her bloody bedroom"

"Oh, did she say what they were doing?" Finn said trying not to laugh, he could just imagine Emily's face

"Emily probably didn't even know and if she did I doubt she'd really want to say would she?"

"I really am sorry about last night Mum, I won't let anything like that happen"

"You'd better not"

"I won't" Finn said about to get up as he thought their conversation was over

"And where do you think you're going?"

"Upstairs, I need a shower"

"Not yet you're not, you didn't seriously think you were getting away from this without any punishment did you?"

"I was kind of hoping"

"I'm afraid not young man, had you forgotten the fact you weed all over my clean washing last night?"

"I did what?"

"I came home to find you weeing in the ironing pile"

"Oh"

"So you're grounded for two weeks and that means no going out, no phone, xbox, laptop or anything and you can clear up the house"

"Great, I'm grounded for the rest of the holidays"

"Maybe you should have thought about that before you decided to drink alcohol last night"

"Fine" Finn said before stomping off. There was no point arguing with his Mum because he knew she wouldn't change her mind but he was hardly about to act as if he was happy about it

Finn cleared up as best he could before going upstairs and jumping in the shower. He couldn't believe he was grounded for the rest of the holiday, now he literally had nothing to look forward to other than going back to school.

Rachel was just taking a load out of the washing machine, the clothes that Finn had weed on last night, when the doorbell rang.

She was about to answer it when she heard Emily go to the door and then her Mum and Lola come in

Rachel quickly threw the clothes into the tumble drier before going out to see them

"Hiya love" Sue said

"Hi"

"How was the party? Did Finn have a good night?"

"Don't even ask"

"Why what happened"

"Let's just say there was alcohol involved"

"Kids will be kids Rachel"

"If that was me you'd have gone absolutely mental Mum"

"Well let's face it, you were hardly an angel when you were at school were you Rachel?"

"Alright, point taken"

"I'm not saying what he did was right, I'm just saying he's only doing what everyone else is doing"

"I know" Rachel sighed "anyway do you want a coffee?"

"I'd better not your Dad's waiting in the car, we're off to the pictures"

"You mean the cinema" Emily said, she always was correcting her Grandma on this

"Oh okay, well have a good time then"

Once Sue had left Rachel went upstairs and unpacked Lola's stuff with her

Finn was planning on going out with Abbie today but this wasn't an option because he was grounded, she wasn't answering any of his texts or calls anyway which Finn didn't really know why.

Despite having to stay in Finn did end up having quite a good day with Rachel and the girls.

**Got an idea for another Finn storyline, but if anyone has one for one of the girls I'd love to use it because I prefer writing about Rachel and the girls xxxxxx**


	11. Chapter 11

The end of the holidays were drawing to a close and which no-one was particularly pleased about, all except from Emily who was so excited about starting at her new school in a few days. It seemed so much more grown up than her other one and she couldn't wait to get started.

Finn was still grounded and Rachel was sticking to it pretty well. The only thing she was allowing him to do was have Abbie over, as she did feel a bit mean making him stick with their company only as she knew this would put him in an awful mood all the time.

Abbie was sat on the end of Finn's bed and Finn had noticed that Abbie was exacting a bit strange, come to think of it she'd been acting really strange ever since the day of his party. She was really quiet, distant and was definitely lacking her usual spark.

"Are you sure you're okay Abs?" Finn asked sitting down next to his girlfriend and putting his arm around her

"Yep"

"Are you still upset about how I was acting at my party?" Finn asked to which Abbie shook her head

Abbie thought for a moment before realising that this really was something that she needed to tell Finn. After all it couldn't be any harder than telling her Mum.

"There's something I need to tell you"

"Okay what is it?" Finn asked trying to sound as supportive as possible

"The thing is… urmm, oh Finn I really don't know how to say this" Abbie said tears starting to form in her eyes, this was another thing Finn had noticed about Abbie at the moment how emotional she seemed to be.

"Just tell me, you're really worrying me now"

"I'm pregnant" Abbie said before looking away from Finn unable to look him in the eye

Finn just froze. He was shocked for words so just sat there in silence for a few moments.

He felt so betrayed. Him and Abbie had pretty much been going out since year 7 so he couldn't believe she'd cheated on him.

"Say something then"

"What do you want me to say? Congratulations, this is fantastic news?"

"No but maybe you could sort of make it seem like we're in this together"

"But we're not are we? You've slept with someone else"

"No I haven't what the hell makes you think that?"

"We're always careful, we use protection so it clearly can't be mine"

"Of course it's yours, god I can't believe you thought I'd cheated on you I'm glad to see that you clearly trust me" Abbie said sarcastically "has it not crossed your mind that maybe the contraception just didn't work, you know these things do happen sometimes"

"Okay I'm sorry for doubting you"

"Is that all you have to say? Are you not going to say anything about the baby?"

"I need time to think" Finn said. He'd now moved off the bed and was looking out of his bedroom window.

Abbie had honestly thought that once she'd told Finn he would have been there for her, given her a cuddle.

"Fine" Abbie said before standing up off the bed and picking her bag up. The tears were rolling down her cheeks but this wasn't what she wanted Finn to see right now so she quickly stormed out of the bedroom

"Thanks for nothing" she shouted and Finn didn't even bother to go after her

Rachel was in the kitchen helping Emily with a bit of her holiday homework that she needed to do when she decided to go and find out if Finn, Emily and Lola wanted some lunch.

She walked out of the kitchen and into the hallway where she saw Abbie putting her shoes on.

"Are you off now love?" Rachel asked

"Yeah, bye Rachel" Abbie said as she stood up to walk out the door. Rachel immediately noticed her tearstained face when she did this so started to get concerned

"What's happened, are you okay?"

"Yeah I'm fine, sorry Rachel but I really need to go"

Abbie then walked out of the door leaving Rachel with no explanation, she thought that maybe she'd had an argument with Finn or something.

She went into Finn's bedroom to ask him if he was ready for lunch, but decided not to bring Abbie up knowing Finn was probably feeling quite angry now if they had had an argument.

"Do you want a sandwich or something for lunch Finn?" Rachel asked

"No"

"No thank you"

"What are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about your manners, just come down when you're ready for lunch then"

Rachel then left again figuring her son needed some space. She went into the kitchen and made lunch for the three of them before sitting down to eat it with Emily and Lola.

"Where's Finn? Is he eating his room because that's not fair because I'm never allowed to eat in my room" Lola asked

"Before you start winging about something Finn isn't even doing, he's not hungry yet"

"Oh. Are we doing anything today?"

"Yeah we're going to meet Ruby and her Mum at the lake for an hour or so" Rachel said knowing Lola would like this. Ruby was a couple of years older than Lola but the two of them had always got on really well.

"Yay, please can I take my bike?"

"I would say so, I'll text Fiona to tell her to bring Ruby's bike too"

Once they'd finished eating Rachel stacked their plates in the dishwasher before getting ready to go out. She decided to get changed as it had actually turned into quite a nice day and the sun was shining now.

After she'd got changed she went to tell Finn they were going out

"Finn we're going to the lake, we're leaving in five minutes"

"I'm not coming"

"Yes you are, you didn't go out all day yesterday or the day before you need some fresh air"

"I don't feel like it"

"Tough, it will do you good to get out of the house for a bit rather than staying in cooped up playing on that xbox all day"

"I'm not even on my xbox" Finn said, which was true it was only then that Rachel thought anything of what Finn was actually doing, he was just lying there on his bed staring up at the ceiling

"You can argue all you like Finn but it's not going to change my mind" Rachel said before walking downstairs to pick up some snacks and drinks.

"Kids, we're leaving" Rachel shouted up the stairs

Emily and Lola were quick to materialise however there was no movement from Finn

"Finn come on, we're going"

Finn heard his Mum shouting and knew he had no choice but to come with them so slowly made his way downstairs

They got into the car and drove the 10 minute drive to the lake. They were a bit late getting there so Ruby were already there when they arrived.

Ruby came straight over to Lola where the two girls started chatting. Emily walked with her Mum and Fiona and Finn was walking behind them all.

"He doesn't seem too happy" Fiona commented

"Think he's had a bit of a fight with Abbie, the fact I dragged him along probably isn't helping either"

They were walking out of the car park when Lola said "Mum please can I get my bike out now?"

"Could you not have said that when we were actually at the car?"

"I forgot"

Rachel rolled her eyes before going to the boot and getting Lola's bike out. Fiona got Ruby's bike too so then they started to walk around the lake.

They only got to the little bridge when Lola and Ruby said their legs were starting to ache so they decided to turn around as it was actually quite a big lake so walking the whole way around it did take quite a while.

"Please can me and Lola go and play in the park?" Ruby asked

"Yeah, we'll go and sit in the café so just come back if you need anything" Fiona replied

"I'm going over there" Finn said before walking off

"Emily do you want to go and play with them?" Rachel asked wanting to chat with Fiona without any kids around. Fiona had really been there for her since she and Chris split up but she couldn't really talk about Chris if Emily was there

"No I'll stay with you" Emily replied, she always did like to listen to what her Mum talked about with her friends

Rachel sighed but it wasn't exactly like she could force Emily to go and play in the park if she didn't want to.

Rachel and Fiona both ordered a coffee and Emily had some apple juice.

They'd been in there for quite a while when Rachel spotted Lola and Ruby running down the bank towards them.

"Mummy we both really need a wee" Lola told her

"Come on then let's go" Rachel said getting up immediately realising they were both really desperate from the way they were standing awkwardly

They all quickly went into the toilets and luckily Lola and Ruby both got there in time.

"Honestly you girls mustn't leave it so late" Rachel said once they were washing their hands

"Sorry Mummy but we were having loads of fun"

"Well that's good then"

"I don't think Finn's having fun though"

"Don't you? Why's that?"

"We went to see if he wanted to play with us because he looked really lonely but he just shouted at us and told us to go away. And then he threw a stone into the water and he made a really funny noise"

"That doesn't sound like he's having very much fun does it? I'll go and talk to him in a minute but don't worry about him"

When they got back to the table Rachel asked if either of them wanted a drink but they decided that they wanted to play for longer so went back to the little park.

After what Lola had said about Finn, Rachel was starting to feel a bit worried about her son. He never usually seemed this down after having a bit of an argument with Abbie, so she wondered if maybe they'd broken up or something.

"I'm just going to go and check on Finn a second, I won't be long" Rachel said to Fiona

She then went down to the water where Finn was sat on the bank throwing stones in the water.

"You going to tell me what's up" Rachel said sitting down next to him "you can push me away if you like but you know I'm only going to keep coming back until I know what's bothering you"

"You wouldn't understand"

"Wouldn't I? Because I've never been a teenager"

"Trust me Mum I can't tell you"

"Have you and Abbie broken up or something?"

"What? No of course we haven't"

"Tell me what has happened then, because something's clearly happened between the two of you"

"Mum if I tell you you'll be so mad with you"

"I'd still rather know"

Finn took a few moments thinking about it. Obviously he was going to have to tell his Mum about it at some point so it may as well be now he thought to himself.

"You know Abbie was over earlier?"

"Yeah"

"Well she told me something, she urmm told me that she's pregnant"

"Are you the Dad?" was Rachel's immediate response

"Yeah"

Rachel couldn't believe what she had just heard. She knew Finn and Abbie had been together for a good few years now but she honestly didn't think that the two of them were having sex, Finn had only just turned fourteen the other day.

"Please tell me this is some kind of wind up?"

"Don't think so unless Abbie is lying"

"How could you be so bloody irresponsible Finn? Surely you know what unprotected sex can lead to" Rachel shouted

"It wasn't unprotected, we used contraception but I guess it just didn't work"

"Well this is just great isn't it my fourteen year old son goes and gets his girlfriend pregnant, how do you think this is going to make me look? Huh?"

"Oh yeah Mum just make this all about you, never mind how I'm feeling about the fact I'm going to be a Dad at fourteen"

"So she's keeping it then?"

"Oh, I don't know actually" Finn said, for some reason this hadn't even crossed his mind Abbie not wanting to keep their baby

"Has she not decided yet?"

"I'm not sure?"

"What do you mean you're not sure?"

"Well we didn't really talk about it"

"Why not?"

"I just needed time to think"

"No wonder she was so upset when I saw her then. You got into this mess together Finn, do you not think that you could maybe have supported her a bit better?" Rachel said still feeling extremely angry with her son

"It was quite a shock for me you know"

"I'm sure it was quite a shock for her too"

"What am I going to do Mum? I can't possibly be a Dad at fourteen, well not a good Dad anyway"

Rachel took a deep breath trying to calm down a bit as she knew her being all het up about it wasn't helping the situation

"You need to go and talk to Abbie, I think she deserves that don't you?"

"Yeah, I feel awful for the way I treated her now"

"I should think so, come on I'll drop you round now"

Rachel and Finn walked back up to the café and Rachel told Fiona that they needed to rush off.

Sensing Rachel seemed a bit stressed Fiona offered to look after Emily and Lola for a bit and drop them around later

"Are you sure you don't mind?"

"Of course not, honestly Rach it's fine"

"Thanks I owe you one"

Rachel said bye to Emily before quickly going up to the park to explain to Lola what was going on and then her and Finn got into the car.

"Mum do you think Abbie hates me now?"

"No love, I think you've got a lot of apologising to do but I'm sure she'll understand why you reacted the way you did once she's calmed down a bit"

Finn was feeling really nervous about talking to Abbie. He didn't really know what he was going to say but what he did know was that he needed to show her that he was there for her.

They soon pulled up on the drive. There was no car there so Rachel waited in the car while Finn went up to the front door to check that Abbie was in.

Finn knocked on the door hoping that it would maybe just be Abbie home, but it was Abbie's Dad that answered the door

"Hi, is Abbie in?" Finn asked

"No she went out with her Mum a little while ago. Have you two had a bit of a falling out have you? She was quite upset when she got back from yours earlier" Abbie's Dad said, he didn't sound angry though because he'd known Finn for ages now and trusted him a lot

"Something like that yeah, I was coming over to apologise. Will you get her to call me when she gets home then?"

"Yeah of course, thanks Finn"

"Bye" Finn said before walking back down to the car where Rachel was still waiting for him

"Not home?" Rachel asked once Finn was back in the car

"No only her Dad was home, he said he'd get Abbie to ring me when she get's home though. Apparently Abbie's gone out with her Mum"

"Has Abbie told her Mum?"

"I don't know" Finn sighed now really regretting not talking to Abbie about it when she was over earlier

"I hope so, it's an awful thing for a girl that age to be going through on her own. When did you get so grown up Finn?"

"What do you mean? I don't really feel grown up"

"I'm talking about you and Abbie sleeping together, why did you never talk to me about it?"

"Yeah because that wouldn't have been at all awkward would it?"

"I don't care, I would still rather know"

"Sex isn't as big a deal for boys as what it is for girls you know Mum?"

"You're still far too young, but it's all a bit late for saying that now isn't it?"

"Yep"

The two of them spent the rest of the car journey in silence both just thinking things through in their head.

When they got back Finn went straight up to his room and Rachel went into the kitchen to make herself a cup of coffee.

She then went and sat down at the kitchen table to drink it. She couldn't believe her son could be having a baby. In her opinion she thought it would probably be best if Abbie got rid of it, as she knew a baby would stop them both doing so many things. However she also knew that getting rid of a baby was easier said than done.

Rachel's thoughts were broken by her mobile ringing. When she looked at the screen she saw it was Abbie's Mum, Gill.

"Hi Gill, is everything okay?"

"It's been better. Has urmm Finn told you about Abbie?"

"Yeah he told me just now, I'm really sorry for how he treated Abbie"

"It was bound to be a shock for him, I just can't believe the two of them have got themselves into this mess I mean Abbie hadn't even told me they were you know… sleeping together"

"No I didn't know either, how's Abbie?"

"She's feeling terrible, I just took her to the clinic to get an abortion"

"She didn't want to keep it then?"

"No, I think it's for the best though, don't you?"

"Yeah I would say"

Anyway I'd better go, I just thought you should know"

"Yeah, thanks Gill. Are you home now?"

"We just got back, Abbie's gone straight up to bed"

"Can I bring Finn over to see her? He feels terrible"

"Yeah she won't call him but I'm sure she'd love to see him really"

"Okay we won't be long then"

Rachel went upstairs to explain to Finn what was going on. Rachel was shocked when she saw her tears starting to form in her son's eyes but of course he was quick to brush them away.

"Can we just go?"

"Yeah come on"

They drove around to Abbie's and Gill let them in once they'd arrived.

"Do you want to go up Finn?" Gill said so Finn went straight up the stairs.

He waited for a bit outside of Abbie's room before knocking.

"Come in"

When Finn walked in he saw his girlfriend in bed and it was obvious from her red, puffy eyes how much she'd been crying.

"I'm so sorry Abs"

"It's okay"

"No it's not. I should have handled it so much better, I would have come with you for the appointment, you know been there for you"

"It's not just you who should be apologising"

"What do you mean?" Finn asked perching on Abbie's bed

"I mean I should have talked to you before I… before I got rid of our baby" Abbie said her eyes welling up

"It's okay, I would have supported your decision either way"

"That's the thing Finn, if I'd talked to you first I don't know if I'd have had an abortion. Whenever I talk about it with the girls or whatever I always say if I was in that position I'd get an abortion but you don't think it's going to be you do you? But when I found out I was pregnant I didn't think I was going to be able to actually have it done"

"So what made you change your mind then?"

"I was just angry, I thought you hated me now and that you would never stick around if I kept the baby. So Mum rang the clinic as soon as I got home and they had an appointment for me right away"

By now Abbie was lying in Finn's arms as he stroked her hair

"It's probably for the best" Finn said trying to be make Abbie feel better "I mean we're really not ready for a baby are we? We're only fourteen"

"I know, people our age do it though"

"It would have stopped us doing so much though. Don't feel bad Abs, you made the right decision honestly you did"

"I know, it just doesn't feel like it now. I feel so awful, I killed our baby" Abbie said starting to cry quite hysterically now

Finn didn't know what to say to make her feel better so just laid there cuddling her.

Abbie was calming down a bit now but still crying quite a bit when there was a knock on the door.

"Shall I say they can come in?" Finn asked and Abbie nodded

"Come in" Finn called

When the door opened they both saw Abbie's Mum stood there and behind her was Rachel.

Both women were pleased to see that Finn and Emily had made up, however they were also quite worried when they saw Abbie's tearstained face.

"Hey Abbie how you doing?" Rachel asked

"I've been better" Abbie replied giving a weak smile

"I can only imagine how you must be feeling at the minute love but you must make sure you talk about it, whether it's your Mum or Finn and you know you can always speak to me. Just don't bottle it up hmm" Rachel said her motherly instincts kicking in, she'd known Abbie for so long now and she really did care deeply for the girl

"I will, thanks Rachel"

"I'm going to get going now, are you coming back with me Finn or are you staying here for a bit longer?"

Finn was about to stay he'd come home later but Abbie got there first

"Could Finn maybe stay the night? I just really want him with me at the minute"

"I don't see why not darling" Gill said going and sitting the other side of her daughter "if it's okay with Rachel that is"

"That's fine by me, I'll see you tomorrow then"

Rachel said goodbye before making her way home again. She knew it was going to be a difficult time for both Finn and Abbie but she couldn't pretend she wasn't glad about the decision Abbie had made. There was no way either of them were ready to become parents.

Rachel hadn't been at home for long when there was a knock at the door. When she answered it she saw Fiona stood there with the girls.

"Hiya, is Finn alright now?" Fiona asked

"He's not doing too bad, I think it's all sorted now luckily"

"What was wrong with him?"

"I'll urmm tell you about it another day. Do you want to come in for a coffee?"

"No we'd better get back, we're at Mum and Dad's house for tea tonight"

"Alright well thanks ever so much for looking after the girls"

"It was no problem, they really are no trouble"

Once Fiona had left Rachel followed the girls into the kitchen

"Mummy what was wrong with Finn?" Lola asked

"Nothing for you to be worried about my love"

"But you said you'd tell Fiona so why can't you tell us?"

"Because Fiona's older than you are, it's just grown up stuff"

"That's not fair I wish I was older so then I could know"

"Where's Finn now?" Emily asked

"He's staying at Abbie's tonight" Rachel replied

"Really? Are you letting him stay there?"

"Yeah, the two of them have been going out for ages now you know"

"I guess are they going to sleep in the same bed and everything?" Emily asked nosily

"I think so yeah, not that it's got anything to do with you young lady"

"Why would they not be allowed to sleep in the same bed? I've slept in the same bed as Finn before"

"Well things change a bit when you're older"

"Why?"

"I don't know, it just does. We'll talk more about it when you're older love"

"Is it more grown up stuff?"

"Yeah I suppose it is"

"See it would be better if I was older then you would actually tell me things" Lola said and Emily and Rachel couldn't help but laugh.

Please review xxx


	12. Chapter 12

**Firstly just want to say thank you to Evapopeismyqueen because this was her idea, so thank you very much! Also this is set a few weeks after they'd all gone back to school. **

Rachel and Finn were in the car on the way to pick Lola up from school. Rachel was running a bit late as her meeting had overrun a bit.

As soon as they got there Rachel parked in the car and then ran into school as just about all of the other parents had left by now.

Rachel was surprised when she got there to see her daughter sat on one of the little benches in the playground. Usually if Rachel was running late Lola would just wait in her classroom until her Mum arrived

"Hey love" Rachel said going over and sitting down next to Lola, she'd been so dazed that she hadn't even seen Rachel coming towards her

"Oh hi Mum" Lola said smiling weakly at her Mum

"Are you okay? What are you doing out here?"

"I came out thinking you'd be here already but you weren't"

"Why did you not just go back into the classroom then?"

"I just wanted to go home" Lola snapped at her Mum

Rachel was actually getting really worried about her daughter. Ever since her first day back she'd been acting really strangely, really quiet and distant all the time. She wouldn't open up to Rachel at all which was so unusual as usually Lola would always tell Rachel how she was feeling.

"Come on then let's go, sorry I'm late by the way" Rachel said deciding to ignore Lola's snappiness

Lola got up and walked back to the car with her Mum. Rachel was trying to get conversation out of her but all she was getting was her nodding or shaking her head and the occasional one word answer

Finn was also surprised when his sister barely said a word for the entire car journey home. Normally he was definitely glad to be out of the car because Lola barely stopped for breath.

Once they got in Lola went straight up to her room.

Rachel decided to give her a few minutes to herself before going up to speak to Lola. She needed to find out what was bothering her so much so that she could help her, because she hated seeing her daughter so down and miserable all of the time.

When she got up the stairs Lola's bedroom door was closed so Rachel opened it and went in.

"Why didn't you knock?" Lola shouted

"I'm sorry love, why was your bedroom door closed though? You don't normally shut it" Rachel asked and Lola shrugged

It was only when Rachel went and sat on the bed that she realised that Lola's were all scratched and grazed, she didn't know how she hadn't noticed it before.

"What's happened to your knees"

"I fell over"

"Oh dear, how did you manage that?"

"I- I can't remember"

"Well it was only today darling it's not that long ago" Rachel said laughing

"Well I can't, it just happened"

Rachel didn't really know what to make of this. It was obvious Lola was lying to her but Rachel didn't want to make her tell her what had happened if she didn't want to.

"Okay maybe it will come back to you later. I think you and me need to have a little chat though don't you?"

"Why what do you want to talk about Mum?"

"I'm really worried about you Lola so I want you to tell me what's going on"

"Nothing I'm fine Mum"

"You really don't seem it to me, are you upset about Dad or something because you can tell me if you are"

"I'm not upset about Dad"

Talking to Rachel was making Lola feel really upset. Part of her did want to tell her Mum what was going on because Rachel always made her feel so much better whenever she had a problem but she also didn't really want Rachel knowing about all of this.

"What is it then? Come on sweetheart you can tell me, you know anything you tell me I'll keep to myself I'm not going to go and tell anyone else"

"I know but there's nothing I need to tell you" Lola said however tears were beginning to form in her eyes

Rachel saw this straight away so pulled Lola into her chest where she let the tears fall. Once they started they just wouldn't seem to stop.

"That's it, just have a good old cry my love get it all out" Rachel soothed

"I-I-I'm sorry Mummy" Lola said really struggling to get her words out because she was crying so much

"What on earth have you got to be sorry for my love?"

"For crying and acting like a baby"

"Crying doesn't make you a baby, we all need to cry sometimes to make us feel better. I really would like you to tell me why you're crying though"

"I don't know why"

"Really? Because you seem very upset for someone who doesn't know why they're crying"

"I'm just really tired and I don't feel very well"

"How don't you feel very well?" Rachel asked not believing her for one second

"I feel really hot and my head hurts"

Rachel put her hand to Lola's forehead "you feel fine to me, a little bit hot but that's only because you've been crying"

"Well I do feel poorly you can't say I'm lying because I'm not" Lola said before moving her head from where it was buried in Rachel's chest onto her pillow so that Rachel couldn't see the new tears that were forming

"If you say so"

"Just leave me alone Mum" Lola said with her head buried in her pillow

"Okay, but if you change your mind about wanting to talk just come and find me"

Lola didn't respond to this so Rachel gently squeezed Lola's shoulder before walking out.

When she was halfway down the stairs there was a knock at the door so Rachel went to answer it. It wasn't until she was at the door she realised her white blouse was soaking wet from all of Lola's tears.

Rachel opened the door and saw Eddie stood there

"Oh hi Eddie, what can I do for you?"

"You left your purse in the office and I thought you'd probably be looking for it" Eddie said holding the purse up

"I hadn't even realised I didn't have it, thanks Eddie" Rachel said taking the purse off Eddie

"It was no problem"

"Do you want to come in for a bit?"

"I'm sure you've got loads to be doing haven't you?" Eddie said but really he would have loved to have come in

"Yeah but I'd rather not be doing it" Rachel said laughing

"Okay just for a bit then" Eddie said before stepping into Rachel's large house

They went through to the kitchen and Rachel made a hot drink for them both.

Eddie had really been there for her since the breakup. Rachel had always felt that the two of them were close but even more so now. There'd even been a couple of instances in the office where Rachel had got a bit upset and Eddie had been a great shoulder to cry into.

"Where's Lola?" Eddie asked as usually whenever he came over Lola was always there to say hello

"She's in her bedroom, apparently she's not feeling very well"

"Apparently?"

"Yeah I'm not so sure, she hasn't been right ever since she went back to school"

"Have you spoken to her teacher to see how she's acting at school?"

"No I was going to go and speak to her today but Lola just wanted to get home, I'll do it tomorrow though"

"Maybe she's just not enjoying school very much at the minute, kids all go through phases like that I know Michael certainly did"

"Yeah maybe, it's just so unlike Lola not to talk to me about it you know?"

"Sometimes it's best to just let kids work things out for themselves"

Eddie and Rachel stayed chatting for a while, they both enjoyed each other's company so much.

Eventually Eddie thought he'd better be going so said goodbye and then got back in his car to go home.

Rachel was just starting to make tea when Emily came in the door and into the kitchen.

"Hi Mum" Emily said

"Hi love, how was school?"

"Good thanks, I've got so much homework to do though"

"Are you going to get on and do a bit of it now then?"

"Yeah just as well"

"Okay well tea will be an hour or so"

"Okay thanks Mum"

Emily went up to her room and changed out of her school uniform before nipping to the loo. When she opened the door to the bathroom she saw Lola in there but she was surprised when she saw how upset her little sister looked.

"What's up Lola?" Emily asked however Lola just ran straight past her and went back into her bedroom closing the door behind her

Emily was quite worried about Lola so decided to go and mention it to Rachel after she'd been to the toilet

"Mum is Lola alright?"

"I'm not too sure to be honest, why?"

"I went into the bathroom and Lola was in there and she was crying loads"

"Yeah she was upset earlier too, she just said she wasn't feeling very well but I'm sure there's something else I just wish she would tell me what was going on"

"Do you want me to have a little chat with her?" Emily offered

Rachel thought that this might be quite a good idea. The two girls were quite close and she knew that sometimes there were things that you just didn't want to tell your Mum.

"That would be great thanks love, let me know if she does tell you anything though won't you?"

"Yeah of course" Emily said before disappearing back upstairs

When she saw Lola's door was closed she decided to knock as Lola obviously wanted some privacy

"Go away" Lola shouted after hearing someone knocking at her door

"It's only me Lola, please let me in"

"No I don't want you to come in"

"Why not?"

"I just don't, just leave me alone"

Despite Lola saying this Emily still went in and attempted to sit on the bed next to her sister. However Lola started hitting her and pushed her back out the door before slamming the door.

Rachel heard the door slam so decided to come up and see what was going on.

"What's going on?" Rachel asked

"Lola just pushed me out of her room and then slammed her door, she was hitting me and everything Mum" Emily said feeling really worried about Lola now

"Something's definitely not right, this isn't like her at all" Rachel said running her hand through her hair "I think she probably needs some time to calm down first but I'll try and have another chat with her later"

Lola was sobbing into her pillow, she could hear her Mum and sister talking outside and it was only making her feel more worked up about it all.

When Rachel came up an hour later to tell Lola tea was ready she'd stopped crying however her face was all red from where she had been crying.

"Lola tea's ready"

"I'm not hungry"

"You must be, you didn't even have a snack when you got in from school"

"I feel sick"

"Why don't you just try and eat something? You might feel better for it" Rachel suggested but Lola continued to be stubborn and refused to come downstairs

Rachel left her in her room so went down to eat with Finn and Emily. Once they'd all finished Rachel decided to clear the kitchen up later and go straight up and have a word with Lola.

When Rachel got up to her bedroom she saw Lola was fast asleep and it was obvious she'd cried herself to sleep from her pillow that was soaked through with tears.

Lola was still in her school uniform so Rachel knew she couldn't be comfy like that.

Rachel got a clean pair of pyjamas out of her drawer and carefully started to get Lola changed.

Lola obviously wasn't in a very deep sleep because she woke up straight away.

"Mummy I'm tired I want to go back to sleep"

"It's only half six love it's still really early"

"But I want to go back to sleep"

"Okay let's just get you changed first then"

Lola let Rachel help her to get changed before getting under the covers and closing her eyes to go back to sleep again.

Rachel thought she would just be having a little nip so didn't bother to make her clean her teeth or go for a wee figuring she would be awake again soon.

Lola soon went back to sleep again with her Mum stroking her face. It felt so nice having her Mum soothe her but she still didn't want to tell her Mum what was going on, she just felt really embarrassed about it for some reason.

Rachel sat with her daughter for quite a while before going back downstairs again to finish clearing up the kitchen. She was very surprised when she found Finn and Emily down there doing it together.

"Thanks you two" Rachel smiled

"It's okay Mum, did you speak to Lola?"

"No she was asleep when I went up there"

"It's really early though surely she can't be tired yet" Emily said

"I think she's made herself exhausted from crying so much, poor girl"

"What do you think's wrong with her?" Finn asked

"I really don't know, but I'm determined to get to the bottom of this"

"I'm sure she'll tell you soon Mum, Lola always tells you everything"

"I know that's why I'm so worried because she's bottling it all up"

Much to Rachel's surprise Lola didn't wake up for the whole evening; she was still sound asleep when Rachel went up to bed herself.

Rachel went over and kissed her daughter on the forehead. She was quite a restless sleeper anyway however she seemed even more so tonight and Rachel noticed how unhappy she looked even when she was sleeping, so unrelaxed.

Rachel sighed before going out. She was even considering letting Lola have the day off tomorrow as she didn't feel right sending her in when she was this upset, maybe if she spent the day with Rachel she would open up.

After putting the quilt straight again Rachel went and got ready for bed.

Once she was in bed it took her ages to drop off to sleep because she was so worried about her youngest daughter. She wanted to make her feel better, but she just couldn't do that until she knew what was wrong.

Lola woke up in the middle of the night really wanting a cuddle from her Mum. However she hadn't been awake for long when she realised her sheets and pyjama bottoms were all wet. Lola got so upset because she hadn't had an accident for so long now so she felt like such a baby.

The tears started to fall down her face again because she was worried about what to do. She was so embarrassed about what she had done so she didn't want anyone to know, not even her Mum, so she realised she would have to sort it out herself.

Emily's room was next door to Lola's and she'd just woken up anyway to go down to get a drink so she heard Lola moving about in her room so decided to go in and investigate.

When she got in there Lola had the light on and was just pulling the sheet off of her bed.

"What are you doing Lola?" Emily asked making Lola jump

Lola was so embarrassed that Emily had found her so she just sank down to the floor resting her head on a dry part of the bed.

Emily immediately saw the big red patch on Lola's bed so realised what her sister was so upset about.

"It's okay Lola, it wasn't your fault" Emily said going over and rubbing Lola's back

Lola didn't say anything just continued to sob

"I'm going to go and get Mum, she'll help you out"

"No please don't" Lola said

"Why not, she'll be able to help"

"She'll be angry with me"

"Of course she won't be, you didn't do it on purpose" Emily said knowing from experience that Rachel would never get cross with them about this sort of thing

As much as Lola tried to stop her Emily still went through to Rachel's room to wake her Mum

"Mum wake up" Emily said shaking her Mum

"What is it?"

"It's Lola, she's had an accident and now she's crying her eyes out"

Hearing this Rachel got straight out of bed and started walking to Lola's bedroom

"Do you want me to do anything Mum?"

"No it's alright, you go back to bed. Thanks for coming to let me know"

When Rachel walked in Lola was in the same position that Emily had left her in so Rachel went over and crouched down beside her daughter and placed her on her knee

"I'm sorry Mummy please don't be mad with me" Lola said in between sobs

"Of course I'm not mad with you darling, these things happen sometimes and they can't be helped. It's my fault for not waking you to make you go for a wee before you went to sleep"

"But I'm seven now it shouldn't happen anymore"

"Well it did, so there's no point getting yourself all worked up about it. Come on take those pyjamas off"

Lola took her pyjama bottoms off while Rachel stripped the sheet off of Lola's bed. They then went through to the bathroom so that Rachel could give Lola a little wash before putting a fresh pair of pyjama bottoms on.

"Me and you are going to go downstairs for a little chat, okay?"

"Okay Mum" Lola said

Rachel then took hold of her daughter's hand and they walked downstairs together

"You go through to the lounge, and I'm going to go and get you a glass of water"

Lola went through to the lounge and sat down of the sofa and waited her Mum. She was getting really worked up sat there though, just worrying about everything that was going on. She just wished they would stop. She felt sick to her stomach with worry.

Rachel came in shortly after however as soon as she did Lola said "Mum I think I'm going to be sick"

"Okay quickly let's get you to the bathroom then" Rachel said rushing over to her daughter

As soon as she got there Lola started being sick into Rachel's hands and all down Rachel

Lola stopped for a bit so Rachel quickly picked her up and rushed her to the bathroom

"Sorry Mum" Lola said however as soon as they got to the toilet Lola started being sick again

"It's okay love, that's it good girl" Rachel said whilst holding Lola's long hair out of her face and stroking her daughter's hair

Once Lola had finished being sick they went upstairs so that she could clean her teeth.

"How are you feeling now?" Rachel asked

"It's probably because you haven't eaten since lunchtime, I'll get you some toast in a minute"

Rachel carried Lola through to her bedroom and sat her on the bed whilst Rachel changed her pyjamas that were covered in sick. She then went downstairs and made a dry piece of toast before going back upstairs to give it to Lola.

Rachel sat there with Lola whilst she ate it and by the time she'd finished Rachel was glad to see she seemed a bit calmer. Lola was still very teary but not hysterical like she had been before.

Once Lola had finished Rachel put the plate on the side before pulling Lola into her chest

"Tell me" Rachel said

It was those two words that made Lola decide to tell her Mum what was going on. She didn't want to keep it to herself anymore, she just wanted to tell her Mum.

"I don't like going to school anymore Mummy" Lola said

"Okay and why's that?"

"Because there are these girls and they're horrible to me every day and I kept asking them to stop but they're still mean to me"

"What sort of things do they do to be mean?"

"They call me names and they don't let me join in with their games and then today when we were getting changed after PE they took my skirt and top and put it where the boys were getting changed so I had to walk over there just in my knickers to go and get them and they all saw"

"Oh my love" Rachel said feeling so sorry for her daughter having to go through all of this "why didn't you tell me before?"

"Because I thought they'd stop eventually and I just didn't want you to know"

"Is it all of the girls in your class or just a few?"

"It's only a few, but sometimes when I'm playing with my friends they come and join in and then they don't let me play anymore. I don't want to go to school anymore" Lola cried

"I'm going to get this sorted for you I am, I promise you I am. You've been such a brave girl telling me all of this and it all stops now"

"How will it all stop? Even when I told them they were upsetting me they still carried on"

"I'm going to go and talk to your teacher tomorrow and then everything's going to get better"

"Really?"

"Yes love, really"

Lola felt like a huge weight had been lifted off her shoulders, she didn't know why she didn't just tell her Mum before. She was the one who always made her feel so much better and she was so talk to about everything.

"Thank you Mum" Lola said still crying though it was tears of relief now

"It's okay, I think it's time for sleep now though"

"Please can I sleep in here with you tonight Mum?"

"Of course you can"

Rachel flicked the lamp off beside her bed before wrapping her arms around her daughter.

Lola snuggled into her Mum and it didn't take long for them both to drop off to sleep.

When the morning came Rachel got up and got straight in the shower leaving Lola asleep in her bed.

She was just rubbing the conditioner in when Lola came barging in to go to the loo.

"Don't mind me" Rachel said but she didn't mind really, it was only her daughter after all

"Sorry Mum but I really was bursting for a wee"

"That's alright love"

Rachel rinsed the conditioner out of her hair before turning the shower off and wrapping a towel around herself.

She then noticed how red and puffy her daughter's face was from all of her crying last night.

After Lola had washed her hands Rachel wrapped her arms around Lola and gave her a massive cuddle.

"Mummy I really don't want to go to school today"

"You don't have to, not today"

"Really?" Lola asked surprised she didn't think her Mum would actually let her have the day off

"Yeah I really don't think it would be right to send you in today, but you're going in on Monday and by then everything will be starting to get sorted because I'm going to go in and speak to your teacher today"

"Really? What are you going to say to her?"

"Just tell her what's been going on so that she can sort it out, and then you can go back to being your usual happy self again"

After the usual morning rush everyone was sitting round the table eating breakfast together

"How come you're not wearing school uniform Lola?" Finn asked

"I'm going to work with Mummy today"

"Oh why's that?"

"She just needs a day off school today" Rachel said. She was planning on telling Emily and Finn about Lola being bullied because they'd both been so worried about her however she knew Lola would get embarrassed if she said with her now

After a while Emily had to leave to go and get her bus so it was just Rachel, Lola and Finn there.

Once they were all ready they got into the car and drove to Waterloo Road. They could leave a bit later today because they didn't have to drop Lola off at her primary school.

Rachel said goodbye to Finn and then her and Lola walked up to Rachel's bedroom.

As soon as they got in Rachel phoned up and got an appointment with the head teacher at Lola's primary school at 11. Rachel hoped they wouldn't be too long as she had loads to get done today, but she knew it was important that this got sorted.

It wasn't until Rachel opened her diary that she realised she had a little meeting with Kim this morning about some of the current pastoral care issues, so she wasn't sure what to do with Lola as it wasn't really something she could listen in on.

Just as Rachel was thinking Eddie walked through to the door.

"Morning" Eddie said and then he saw Lola "hi Lola"

"Hi" Lola said smiling and Rachel was pleased to see some of her confidence starting to return

"Eddie you wouldn't be able to do me a massive favour would you?"

"Depends what is" Eddie said grinning

"I've got a meeting with Kim at 9, so would you be able to look after Lola for a bit?" Rachel asked knowing Eddie had a double free this morning

"Of course I can, where's the meeting"

"In Kim's office so you two can stay up here if you like"

It was soon time for Rachel to go to her meeting so she headed off leaving Eddie and Lola alone.

When she returned she was very unsurprised to find Eddie drawing with Lola and not doing the paperwork he said he'd do.

"Seems like you've had a very productive time on those budgets Eddie" Rachel said smiling

"I was just getting onto those, but Lola wanted me to help her"

"It's fine Eddie, thanks for watching her for me"

"It was no problem"

Lola came over and whispered into her Mum's ear that she needed a wee

"Can you go on your own then?" Rachel asked as it was lesson time so there was no-one in the corridors and they weren't very far from the office

"Yeah okay" Lola said before going off

"What's she doing here then?" Eddie asked "she doesn't seem poorly or anything"

"No she finally told me what was wrong last night, she's being bullied Eddie"

"Poor thing, must be horrible for her"

"Yeah well I've got an appointment at 11 with her head teacher so hopefully we'll get it sorted then. She was in such a state last night though, it felt like I was up with her for hours"

"I thought you were looking a bit tired, still as beautiful as ever though" Eddie said before gasping not believe that he'd actually said that out loud

Rachel was blushing furiously at this so quickly started through her bag for something so Eddie wouldn't see her red cheeks

"Urmm thank you"

Rachel was so pleased when Lola returned from the toilet meaning she could turn the attention to her

"Did you find them alright?"

"Yes I have been to them loads now you know Mum"

"I know I was just checking"

At break time Rachel thought it was probably time they left to go and speak to the head teacher.

When they were walking into the school Rachel noticed that her daughter had gone very quiet again

"You alright love?" Rachel asked and Lola nodded

"I know you're probably feeling a bit nervous, but you don't need to be. They're just going to want to help you like I do"

"Okay" Lola said

She still felt really nervous but she was glad Rachel was there with her for.

It felt so weird for Rachel to be the parent as she was so used to being the teacher but Rachel was really pleased with how the meeting went and how supportive the school were being.

Although Lola had been a bit hesitant to give names at first she did in the end, so they said they'd be having serious words straight away and that come Monday Lola would be getting an apology from all of them.

"See that wasn't so bad was it?" Rachel asked once they'd come out

"I suppose not, but what if they still keep doing it?"

"Tell your teacher, or if you don't want to do that wait until you're home and tell me. But whatever you do don't bottle anything up again like you did okay? It's always always always best to talk about things"

"I know I promise I'll tell you next time Mummy"

"Good girl"

They drove back to school and actually managed to have a nice day together, despite Rachel being at work.

Please review xxxxx


	13. Chapter 13

Lola had been back to school for nearly a whole week now since Rachel had found out about the bullying. She hadn't become friends with the girls who were bullying her but luckily they weren't being horrible to her anymore. It was such a relief for Rachel to have her little girl back.

Rachel was just waiting for Emily to come home from school and then she was taking the two girls late night shopping. Finn was over at his friend's for tea and then supposedly coming home to do homework.

"Mummy how long before we're leaving?" Lola asked getting a bit bored

"Not long now I wouldn't have thought, unless the bus is late"

"Will I have to go on the bus to go to school when I'm Emily's age?"

"Maybe love, it just depends on what school you go to doesn't it"

A few minutes later Rachel and Lola heard the front door close and presumed that Emily must have just got home.

Rachel was surprised when she heard Emily running straight up the stairs to her bedroom without coming into the kitchen for a quick chat first. Emily always came to see Rachel first even if it was just to say hello.

Wondering what was going on Rachel went up to her daughter's room. She knocked once but didn't wait for a reply before walking on where Emily was in the middle of getting changed

"Mum I'm getting changed" Emily said wearing only her bra and knickers

"Sorry love, it's only me though isn't it?"

"I suppose" Emily said continuing to look through her wardrobe for something to wear

"How come you didn't come into the kitchen to see us before you came up?"

"Because I thought we'd be in a rush to get going" Emily snapped

"Okay sorry, I was just checking you were okay that's all"

"I'm fine"

"I'll leave you to it then" Rachel said before walking out closing the door behind her

Rachel went into her bedroom to reapply a bit of makeup before going downstairs and waiting for Emily. It wasn't long before her daughter was ready to go so they all went and got into the car to drive to the shops.

After about a 20 minute drive they arrived. Emily had been really quiet for the whole journey just staring out of the window the whole way. Rachel kept trying to ask her questions about school and stuff but she wasn't getting much out of her.

"Right where do you girls want to start?" Rachel asked once they were inside

Emily just shrugged her shoulders but Lola replied

"Please can we go to claire's?" Lola asked

"I guess so, not too long in there though" Rachel said as she really didn't like the shop. It was so small in there and there was always loads of people

"I'm going to wait out here" Rachel said and Emily waited there too which surprised Rachel as usually she quite liked looking around Claire's too

"Where do you fancy going next then love?" Rachel asked her daughter

"Please can we go to boots?"

"Of course we can what do you need in there?"

"Just stuff"

"We'll head there then after madam's finished looking in here"

They'd been stood there for a few minutes when Lola shouted "Mum come here?"

"Why?"

"Because I want to show you this but if I come out to show you they might think I'm trying to steal it"

Rachel went in and saw Lola had picked up some makeup set

"Please can I get it Mum?"

"I hardly think you need it at your age"

"But you let me wear makeup when I play dressing up games so I want it for that"

"No if I let you have some of your own I know you'll end up wearing it when you're supposed to"

"But Mum…"

"But Mum nothing, put it back then we're going"

Lola put it back on the shelf before following Rachel out feeling a bit sulky now

They then headed to boots and Emily walked off leaving Lola and Rachel alone which made Rachel wonder if Emily needed to buy something she was embarrassed about telling Rachel about

Rachel didn't follow her and instead took Lola off in a different direction to get some of her face stuff that she'd run out of.

After a while Emily had picked up a few bits that she wanted so went to ask Rachel if she could get them

"Mum please can I get these?" Emily asked holding up a bottle of foundation, mascara, eye liner and lip gloss

Rachel sighed, Emily seemed to have grown up so much just in the few weeks that she'd been at her new school.

"I suppose you can have the mascara and lip gloss but I'm going to say no to the foundation and eyeliner"

"Why can't I have the foundation and eyeliner?"

"Because your skins beautiful darling you don't need to be bothering with foundation, and eyeliner will make you look too grown up"

"That's not fait all the other girls wear makeup"

"Yeah and I'm letting you get the mascara and lipgloss, so why don't you just count yourself lucky about that?"

Emily went off in a mood putting the stuff back.

"That's not fait how come Emily's allowed to buy makeup when you wouldn't let me"

"Because Emily's four years older than you are, when you get to Emily's age I'll let you buy some too"

"That's ages away though"

"It will come around sooner than you think"

Rachel picked up some more hair bands and grips whilst they were in boots as they forever seemed to be running out of them before meeting back up with Emily at the tills

"You're so unfair Mum why do you have to treat me like such a baby all the time?"

"I hardly think I'd be letting you get mascara and lip gloss if you were a baby do you?"

"You know what I mean"

Rachel paid for all of the stuff before the three of them walked out of the shop

"Can you two give me a break please? If you carry on like this we'll be going home"

"I don't want to go home Mummy"

"Well stop moaning about the things I won't let you have then"

"Sorry" Lola said, she didn't like it when Rachel wasn't very happy with her

"That's okay, let's just try and have a nice shopping trip together shall we?"

Next they headed to New Look because Lola and Emily both liked the clothes in there.

The two of them picked out some clothes they wanted to try on and then they went through to the changing rooms.

Rachel sat on one of the chairs outside whilst Emily and Lola went in a changing room each.

Emily came out with a nice wintery top and skirt on which Rachel said she could have as she needed some new winter clothes.

Lola tried on a top but it was way too big so Rachel had to go out and get her the smaller size. Lola always had been quite small for her age.

After the girls had tried everything on Rachel went and paid for everything they wanted and then they headed out of the shop.

"Right where next then?" Rachel asked

"You can choose if you like Mum" Lola said

"That's nice of you love, is it okay if we pop into Debenhams then because I want to look for a dress for that wedding I'm going to"

They went in and Lola and Emily followed Rachel round as she picked up a few dresses to try on. While they were in there Emily bumped into one of her new friends from school and Rachel agreed to let her go off on her own for half an hour or so.

Once Rachel had finished looking she headed to the changing rooms with Lola to try on the dresses.

"Mum I need a wee" Lola said just after the lady had given Rachel the tag

"Well you'll have to hang on a minute love" Rachel said

Lola was actually quite bursting but knew her Mum would probably be a bit annoyed if she made her take her now so decided to just try and hold on.

Rachel found a changing room and took Lola inside with her so she sat on the seat in there.

Rachel tried on the first dress and was just looking at it in the mirror when she noticed how fidgety and uncomfortable Lola looked. She knew this meant that Lola was probably really desperate for the loo so Rachel realised she'd have to come back to try on the rest of the dresses not wanting Lola to have an accident.

Lola noticed Rachel putting her clothes back on and wondered why

"Mum why aren't you trying on the rest of the dresses?"

"Because you're really bursting for the loo aren't you?" Rachel said to which Lola nodded. Lola was so pleased that Rachel had said this as she actually was getting really worried that she was going to have an accident and this was the last thing she wanted to do in the middle of a shop

Once Rachel was changed she gave the lady the dresses and told her they'd be back again before taking Lola up the escalator to the loos.

Rachel decided to go whilst they were there so once they'd both been they went back to the changing rooms so Rachel could finish trying on the dresses.

Lola was getting really bored by this stage but Rachel was really pleased with how well she was behaving.

"Well done for being so good in there love, I know it probably wasn't much fun for you was it?"

"I didn't mind are we going for tea now though Mum? I'm really hungry"

"Yeah we're meeting Emily at the food court in" Rachel said before looking at her watch "10 minutes so I'll just pay for this and then we'll go"

Rachel paid for the dress that she really liked before going up to the food court to find Emily.

Emily was there waiting with her friend Beth so they both came over when they saw Rachel and Lola come. The three of them waited with Beth until her Mum arrived before going off to get something to eat.

After deciding on what to have they all sat down at a table to eat. Emily was being really quiet and Rachel was beginning to think something wasn't right. She decided to talk to Emily when they got home knowing her daughter wouldn't be very likely to say anything with Lola there.

After they'd eaten their tea they looked around a few more shops but they were all starting to feel a bit tired now, especially Lola, so they headed back to the car and drove home again.

Rachel was pleased to see Finn sat at the kitchen table doing his homework when they got in. He did tend to leave his homework to the last minute, but Rachel was pleased that he was actually starting to take school a bit seriously.

"Well done love" Rachel said giving her son a smile

Lola went straight upstairs with her Mum whilst Rachel ran the bath.

Usually Rachel would let her have a good play whilst she was in there but it was quite late tonight so Rachel just gave her a wash and washed her hair before getting her straight out.

After putting Lola's pyjamas on her they went through to Rachel's room so that they could dry Lola's hair.

"You go to the loo and brush your teeth, I'm just going to check on Emily then I'll be in to say goodnight"

When Rachel got into Emily's room her daughter was just coming out of her bathroom in her towel after having a shower. Emily had recently changed bedrooms. She'd gone into the spare bedroom that had an en suite as Rachel had finally given into her.

"Are you going to come downstairs and watch a bit of TV with me and Finn after you're changed?" Rachel asked

"No I'm really tired I think I'm going to go straight to bed Mum"

"Really it's only 8:30?" Rachel said. Usually Rachel made her go to bed by about 9 on a school night but Emily normally wanted to stay up much later

"Yeah I'm really tired"

This was probably true because having to travel to and from school on the bus each day did make the school day quite long, however Rachel couldn't help but feel there was something else going on that Emily wasn't telling her about.

"Okay well I'll be back in to say goodnight after I've put your sister to bed"

Rachel left so that Emily could get changed. She got Lola tucked up in bed.

"Mum is it Friday tomorrow?" Lola asked

"It most certainly is" Rachel said feeling quite pleased about this

"Yay that means it's nearly the weekend"

"Yep just one more day at school first, anyway it's time for you to go to sleep or you'll never be up In the morning"

"Okay night Mum, thanks for everything you bought me tonight"

"That's alright darling, you're worth it"

Rachel stayed with Lola until she dropped off to sleep which didn't take long because Lola was so tired. She then went through to Emily's bedroom but Emily wasn't in there however it didn't take long for Rachel to find her drying her hair in her Mum's room

"Do you want me to do that for you?" Rachel offered

"Yeah okay"

Rachel took the hair drier and continued to dry her daughter's hair for her.

Once she was done the two of them went back to Emily's bedroom. Rachel sat on her daughter's bed whilst she cleaned her teeth and went to the loo.

"You sure you don't want to come back downstairs for a bit?"

"I'm sure, I just want to go to sleep"

"Em, is there something going on you want to talk to me about?"

"No, why?"

"I don't know you just seem a bit, quiet"

"I'm okay I just want to go to sleep"

"Okay then, night night sweetheart love you lots"

"Love you too Mum"

Rachel then went downstairs and sat down with Finn, who had now finished his homework that was due in the next day, and watched a bit of TV.

They stayed downstairs for a couple of hours but then the two of them went up to bed.

Rachel peeped her head around both girls doors, just like she did every night, and they both looked asleep so Rachel went to bed.

Emily was actually only pretending to be asleep though, she'd been lying there for ages but she just didn't seem to be able to go to sleep. Her mind kept thinking about what she'd done today and she was starting to feel really guilty about it.

It was gone midnight when Emily eventually dropped off to sleep so when her alarm went off at 6:30 the next morning she was extremely tired after not having very much asleep.

She turned her alarm off and then turned over and went back to sleep again. Rachel was surprised when she came in to check that Emily was up, as each day she had since Emily had been back at school she'd already been up.

"Em, it's time to get up sweetheart" Rachel said gently

"I'm tired, I want to go back to sleep" Emily said holding onto the quilt firmly

"I know you do, you can have a lie in tomorrow though I promise" Rachel said but Emil still didn't get out

"Come on, you're going to be late otherwise"

After a bit more persuasion Emily did get out of bed and start getting ready so Rachel left her to it.

Once Emily was ready for school she went downstairs to have breakfast before leaving the house to catch her bus at 7:30.

She'd had a bit of a falling out with one of her best friends from primary school so she sat on the bus with one of her other friends, and all the others that had gone to the same primary school as her sat down nearer the front.

She hated it being so segregated all the time, it had been like it all week and she was really fed up of it.

When the bus got to school they all got off the bus and went and stood in the playground.

Emily saw Beth so went and stood over there with her and some of her friends. Emily really liked Beth and was getting quite close to her now. However the whole time she was stood there she could tell that her friends from primary school were talking about her because they kept looking at her.

When the bell went all the girls made their way to their form rooms. Emily was really looking forward to the weekend because she never had liked having arguments.

Little did Emily know that her day was about to get a lot worse. She was sat down next to Beth when her form tutor asked to have a word outside. Emily followed her out feeling a bit worried that she was in trouble.

It wasn't until they got out into the quiet corridor that Emily saw the note that her tutor was holding, the one that she'd slipped into Sadie's bag yesterday after they'd had another big confrontation.

"Right Emily, Sadie came to speak to me after school yesterday because she found this in her bag" Mrs Fisher said holding up the note that said 'you bitch' on it "she was quite upset about it and thought that maybe you'd put it in there because you've fallen out haven't you?"

"It wasn't me I promise, I've never seen it before" Emily lied. Her cheeks were turning redder and redder through embarrassment. She really liked Mrs Fisher and really didn't want to get into trouble with her.

"Are you sure Emily because I have to say it does look like your writing"

"No I didn't write it"

Mrs Fisher thought for a bit before saying "if it was you it's much better that you do tell me now than lie about it, we all make mistakes and I'm sure we can all move past this"

"But I honestly didn't write it"

"See I'm really not so sure about that Emily, but if you're not going to admit it to me maybe I'll have to ring your Mum"

"No please don' tell my Mum" Emily said beginning to panic there was no way she wanted Rachel finding out about all of this, she already felt really ashamed

"Okay I'll ask you one more time then, did you write this note?"

"Yes" Emily admitted looking down at her feet

"Right, well thank you for telling the truth" Mrs Fisher said "obviously we need to get this sorted so I'd like you to come back at lunchtime to see me"

"Okay"

"You can go back in now"

Emily went back into the classroom and sat down next to Beth. Beth asked her what it was all about but she lied saying they'd missed some details off her form that she needed to tell them.

When the bell went Emily made her way to her maths with Beth. She was so glad Sadie was in a different set to her for maths as she really didn't want to face her just now.

Emily was really quiet all lesson, she was so worried about what she was going to say to Mrs Fisher.

By break time Emily was getting herself really worked up. She went to the toilets with some of the girls from her geography class.

As soon as Emily locked the door behind her she found herself beginning to cry. As soon as the tears started to fall she couldn't seem to stop them. She really wished she could though because she really didn't want everyone to know she was upset about something.

After a while Emily did manage to stop crying so she wiped her eyes before going out to wash her hands.

The girls were all busy talking so didn't really notice her tear stained face, however Beth did so immediately began to feel quite concerned.

All the other girls started to leave the toilets to go outside however Beth decided to stay behind to talk to Emily.

"Emily are you okay? Has something happened?"

"I'm fine"

"Are you sure because you haven't seemed it ever since Mrs Fisher took you outside to talk to you this morning"

Emily thought for a moment before deciding to tell Beth what had happened. After all she trusted Beth a lot and she'd really been there since she'd fallen out with Sadie.

"I'm in trouble" Emily said fresh tears starting to fall down her face as she really did feel so worried about it all

"Why what've you done?"

"I put a note into Sadie's bag and Mrs Fisher found out about it"

"What did the note say"

"You bitch" Emily said seriously regretting what she'd done now, it had just been a spur of the moment thing because she was so angry

"Very true" Beth said making Emily smile a bit

"What am I going to do though? Mrs Fisher is going to hate me now"

"No she won't, just say you're really sorry and I'm sure she'll forget about it in no time"

"I hope so"

Before they knew it the bell went for third period and the girls had ended up spending their whole break time in the toilets.

At the start of lunch Emily made her way to Mrs Fisher's classroom straight away. She knocked on the door and waited until she was told to come in.

"Hi Emily" Mrs Fisher said and Emily was glad that she was actually smiling "come and sit down"

Emily went and sat down feeling incredibly nervous about what was going to happen, she felt really hot and sweaty and her hands wouldn't stop shaking.

"Now then, first of all I'd like to know why you wrote the note"

"I was angry because we'd just had a fall out, I know I shouldn't have done it I just wasn't thinking straight at the time"

"Hm, obviously you shouldn't have done what you did, Sadie was really upset when she came to see me about it all so I want you to apologise to her"

"I will"

"But next time you're feeling like that I want you to come and talk to me, rather than doing something stupid that you're going to regret"

"Okay"

Mrs Fisher talked to her for a bit longer before letting her go. Emily went to find her friends to eat her lunch but she barely said a word the whole time.

Emily had science last lesson which she definitely wasn't looking forward to. It was the one lesson that she was with Sadie for and Beth wasn't there to give her any support.

While they were waiting outside for the teacher to arrive Emily saw Sadie so went over to her

"Sadie can I talk to you a second please?"

"What is it?"

"I meant in private"

"Fine then" Sadie said before going a bit further down the corridor with Emily

"I just wanted to say I'm really sorry about the note"

"Okay" Sadie said before walking off

This made Emily feel quite upset because she hoped that if she apologised that maybe they would make up and go back to being friends again, but this clearly wasn't the case.

The rest of the day passed and soon it was time to get on the bus to go home.

Beth had invited her over for a sleepover tomorrow night which she was really looking forward to, but she was still feeling really upset about today and quite annoyed about getting into trouble.

When Emily climbed off the bus she was actually really glad to see her Mum stood there with Lola.

"Hi darling, Lola wanted to come and meet you off the bus I hope you don't mind"

"No of course not" Emily said as the three of them started to walk home

"Have you had a good day?"

"Yep" Emily replied unconvincingly

When they got in the front door Lola went upstairs to go and play but Emily followed her Mum into the kitchen and then wrapped her arms around her.

"This is nice, it's not often you actually choose to give me a cuddle anymore"

Emily didn't say anything just stayed cuddled up to her Mum immediately feeling a bit better by the comforting smell of her Mum's perfume.

When Emily pulled away Rachel was almost certain that she had tears in her eyes.

"What's wrong Em?"

"Nothing's wrong, why do you keep asking me that?"

"It looked like you were crying"

"Well I'm not" Emily said before darting out of the kitchen and up to her room

Rachel stood there feeling a bit puzzled by her very sudden change in mood.

Feeling quite worried about her daughter Rachel went upstairs to go and speak to Emily.

Rachel knocked on the door and waited for a reply

"Go away" Emily shouted

"It's Mum please can I come in?"

"No"

Rachel sighed but she wasn't about to walk away when Emily sounded so upset so instead she opened the door and went in.

She found Emily lying in a ball on her bed.

Emily was annoyed that her Mum had come in even though she'd said she couldn't but she didn't say anything.

"Are you going to tell me what's wrong?" Rachel asked going over to sit by her daughter

"Nothing's wrong"

"You know I don't believe you don't I? I'm your Mum I can always tell when you're not happy about something"

"I've just had a bad day that's all"

"If it's that then I'd say you've had a bad week because you've been acting like this since you came home on Monday"

"Okay then I've had a bad week"

"Why what's happened?"

Emily sighed knowing her Mum wouldn't give up until she found out what was wrong

"I've had a falling out with Sadie"

"Well that's not very nice, what did you fall out about love?"

"Because I didn't sit with her at lunchtime on Monday and then she started saying horrible things about me, it all started from that really"

"Oh love why didn't you tell me about it before? It can't have been very nice for you"

"There wasn't anything you could do"

"How many times do I have to tell you how much talking can make things easier?"

"All the time" Emily said giving a small smile

"But still you don't listen"

Emily then burst into tears so Rachel pulled her into her chest.

"There you go my love you have a good cry, you'll feel so much better for it" Rachel said rubbing her daughter's back for her

After a little bit Rachel disappeared into Emily's en suite to get her some tissue so that Emily could dry her eyes. She couldn't help but feel that there was still something Emily wasn't telling her.

"I'm guessing the two of you haven't made up yet then?" Rachel said and Emily shook her head

"I tried apologising today but she kind of just walked off"

"Maybe after the weekend when you've both had a change to think things through she'll calm down and I'm sure you'll make up, the two of you were such good friends before"

"I know"

"You feeling any better now darling? Do you want to come downstairs for a bit?"

"Yeah I'll just get changed then I'll be down"

It was really have a quiet Friday night in just the four of them, however Emily was still being really quiet so Rachel was wondering what she was keeping from her.

Emily was lying bed, struggling to get to sleep once again. She kept replaying her conversations with Mrs Fisher over and over in her head, she felt so horrible about it all.

She was also really worried that Rachel was going to find out about it. In the end she decided to go and tell her Mum because she would rather it came from her than anyone else.

Emily got out of bed and walked across the landing to her Mum's bedroom. When she got in there Rachel was still awake, sat up in bed reading her book

"Hiya love, can you not sleep?"

"No"

"Do you want to come in here for a cuddle?"

Emily nodded her head before going and climbing in next to her Mum. She always loved coming in for a cuddle in her Mum's bed, it was so comfy.

"Mum I need to tell you something"

"Okay what is it love?"

"I was in trouble today at school" Emily said which shocked Rachel a bit. Her daughter was really good and barely ever got into trouble

"Okay, what was it you did?"

Emily took a deep breath before telling her Mum everything that had happened. By the end of it she was in tears because she was so worried about what Rachel was going to say to her.

"Oh dear, you really haven't had a very good week have you?"

"Aren't you mad with me Mum?"

"Not really darling no, everyone makes mistakes and it's obvious how sorry you are about what you've done because you're so upset"

"I really wish I hadn't done it"

"I know and if you could go back in time and change things I'm sure you would, but you can't so there's nothing you can do other than say sorry"

"I already did I don't think she accepted my apology though"

"That's her problem darling, not yours. I'm sure she'll come round eventually and until she does you've still got lots of other friends haven't you?"

"Yeah I suppose so, Mrs Fisher isn't going to like me anymore though after that I did though"

"Of course she will love, she's there to help you not judge you. Trust me I've got loads of pupils who are naughty all the time but I still like them"

"I guess, thanks Mum"

"That's alright sweetheart, I'm glad I know why you've been so upset though"

"I'm going back to bed now, I'm really tired"

"Okay see you in the morning then"

"Oh Mum" Emily said with everything that was in her mind she'd forgotten to ask about Beth's sleepover tomorrow

"Yes love"

"Is it okay if I go to Beth's house tomorrow for a sleepover?"

"Of course it is, do you know where she lives?"

"Yeah she give me her address"

"Okay night then darling"

"Night Mum love you"

"Love you too"

Emily then went back to bed and fell asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow. She felt so much better after talking to her Mum about everything.

**Please review xxxxx **


	14. Chapter 14

It was a Saturday morning and Rachel was having a busy morning doing housework. She'd just come inside after hanging a load of washing out when Lola appeared

"Mummy are we leaving yet?"

It was Ruby's Birthday party today and Lola had been really excited all morning and hadn't stopped going on about it

"Nearly, I need to get changed first though"

"You always take ages though"

"No I don't, anyway I've already had a shower so I literally just need to get dressed"

"Hurry up then, go and do it now"

"Okay, okay I'm going" Rachel said

Lola followed Rachel upstairs wanting to make sure she didn't get distracted by anything knowing what her Mum could be like

Rachel got changed and then decided they may as well just get going. They would be quite early but it was better than having Lola keeping on about leaving every five seconds.

She went into tell Emily that they were leaving as the two of them were going to tesco's once they'd dropped Lola off for her sleepover tonight. However when they got in there Rachel found Emily lying on her bed on her stomach.

"What's wrong love?" Rachel asked

"My stomach's really hurting" Emily said close to tears

"Oh is it? When did that start?"

"When I woke up this morning but it's got really bad now"

"Do you want a painkiller then?"

"Yes please"

"I'll go and get it for you then, I was going to tell you we're leaving now but would you rather stay here?"

"No it will be okay in a minute, I'll come"

Emily got off her bed and followed Rachel downstairs into the kitchen. Rachel went into the cupboard to get the painkillers out before giving them to Emily with a glass of water.

"Mum I thought you said we were going" Lola said

"We are, Emily just needs a painkiller first because she's got a stomach ache"

Emily quickly swallowed it down before going and getting in the car with Lola and Rachel.

They were about halfway to the swimming pool when Rachel suddenly remembered she hadn't picked the present up.

"Lola did you pick the present up" Rachel asked hopefully but somehow she doubted it

"No why didn't you?"

"No I forgot love, we'd better turn around"

"We'll be late then though"

"No we won't, we'll still be early love"

Rachel turned around and quickly drove home again to go in and get the present. After she'd picked it up she quickly ran back to the car before starting to drive to the swimming pool again.

"You coming in Emily or are you just going to wait there?"

"I'll wait here" Emily said as her stomach was still hurting quite a lot

"Okay I won't be too long"

Rachel walked Lola into the swimming pool entrance where Fiona and Ruby were. As Rachel had expected they were the first ones there

"Lola's been so excited, she couldn't wait any longer"

"Yeah so is Ruby"

"You're going to have your hands full today"

"Tell me about it"

"I'm about to go to the supermarket with Emily but once we get back I'll come and give you hand if you want"

"You don't want to do that"

"I don't mind, I know how much of handful kids can be especially at Birthday parties"

"Well if you don't mind then"

"Course not"

Rachel then said goodbye to Lola before walking back to the car. She saw other children arriving for the party as she was walking back down.

When she got back to the car she saw that Emily still looked as though she was in quite a bit of pain.

"Is it feeling any better?" Rachel asked

"A bit, I hope it goes by tonight" Emily said as she was really looking forward to having all of her friends over, most of her new friends had never been to her house before

"I'm sure it will" Rachel said squeezing her daughter's leg supportively "is it time of the month or something?"

"No" Emily replied her cheeks going a bit red

Rachel then started up the car and drove to tesco.

"Right what do you want to eat tonight?"

"Can we have pizza?"

"Yep good choice, can't say I really feel like cooking anything much when there's so many of you"

They picked up some pizzas and all the other bits they needed before going to choose a film for the girls to watch.

"Can I get this one?" Emily asked holding up a 15

"No"

"Why not?"

"Because you're all 11, I'll let you get a 12 but I don't think the other girls Mum's will be too happy if I let you watch a 15 do you?"

"They wouldn't care"

"Well I don't know that, you're not getting that one"

"Fine" Emily sighed

Once Emily had chosen a different film they went to pay before getting back into the car.

"I'm going to go and help Fiona out for a bit" Rachel said

"I'm not doing that" Emily said instantly

"Did I say you had to? I'll drop you home first"

Once they got home again Rachel and Emily carried all of the shopping in. Emily went straight up to her room leaving Rachel to unpack all of it.

Rachel put all of the shopping away and carried on doing a few bits around the house, knowing they'd still be swimming at the moment. After a while she decided to go so shouted up to Emily and Finn that she was going. She got a simple bye from both of them so then she went and drove back to the swimming pool.

She thought they'd be in the café ready to have the Birthday tea by now however when she got in there only Ruby's Dad was there.

"Are they not out yet?" Rachel asked

"They're out, just getting changed"

"Okay I'll go and see if Fiona wants a hand then" Rachel said before making her way down to the changing rooms

"What are you doing in here Mum?" Lola asked

"I've just come to see how you're all getting on. Hurry up Lola you're miles behind everyone else"

"That's probably because she hasn't had chance to get dressed with all of the chatting that she's been doing" Fiona said

All of the other girls were in the year above Lola at school but she still got on with them really well and it made her feel really grown up whenever she was with them.

Once everyone was changed Rachel and Fiona took them all upstairs to the café and got them sat down ready to eat.

"Mummy me and Ruby need a wee" Lola said just as they'd sat down

"Could you not have gone two minutes ago when we were in the changing rooms" Rachel sighed "come on then I'll take you now"

When the girls saw Lola and Ruby getting up quite a few of the others decided that they needed to too so it took quite a while.

"Are you Lola's Mum?" one of the girls asked while they were waiting

"Yes I am" Rachel replied

"I wish I had a Mummy like you Lola's always telling us how nice and cool you are" the girl said which made Rachel smile quite a lot

"Oh I don't know, I'm sure she's told you how strict I can be too"

"Yeah but she said that most of the time you're really kind and that she tells you everything"

Once they'd all been they went back to the table where the food was starting to be brought out.

Rachel was really pleased to see Lola so happy, there was nothing she liked seeing more than seeing any of her kids laughing and having a good time.

Rachel waited with Fiona until all of the other girls had gone home and then they walked back to their cars together.

"Thanks so much for your help Rach"

"It was no problem"

They were then all about to get into their separate cars but Rachel could tell that Lola and Ruby wanted something

"Mum"

"Yes"

"Please can Ruby sleep round tonight?" Lola asked

"How did I know that was coming" Rachel said rolling her eyes

"So can she?"

Rachel was about to respond saying it was fine with her but then Fiona spoke

"Not tonight, sorry girls but we've got to get up early tomorrow to drive to Ruby's grand parents house, maybe next time though"

Rachel could tell Lola was really disappointed about this, but they said goodbye and then Lola climbed into the back of the car.

"See you on Monday I expect" Rachel said before getting into the car as well

Rachel started the car and drove off, however when she glanced in the mirror at Lola she saw tears in her eyes

"What's wrong darling?" Rachel asked her daughter

"I really wanted to have a sleepover tonight with Ruby" Lola said letting the tears roll down her face

"I know you did sweetheart but you can't tonight, there'll be loads of other times won't there?"

"I know, I'm sorry for crying" Lola said, however Rachel knew this was probably just from all of the excitement of the party making her quite tired

"I think you're just tired out from the party, but we'll still have a nice evening just the two of us"

"Why? What's Emily doing?"

"She's got all of her friends sleeping tonight hasn't she?"

"Oh yeah I forgot"

When they got in Finn and Emily were both sat in the lounge watching TV together. However when Rachel got in Finn was quick to switch the TV off

"What was that for?" Rachel asked

"What was what for?"

"You, turning the TV off"

"It just finished"

"What were you watching?"

"Just a film"

"What film?"

"Err" Finn hesitated struggling to think of one

"Pass it here"

Finn sighed before passing the controls to his Mum. Rachel turned it back on immediately and saw they'd been watching The Inbetweeners

"This is definitely not the sort of thing an 11 year old should be watching Emily"

"It's really funny though"

"Yes but also very rude, I thought you'd have known better Finn"

"I was already watching it when she came down, I didn't want to stop watching it just because she was here"

"Well I don't want you watching it again Emily and I mean that it's not appropriate for someone of your age"

"Sorry Mum"

"That's okay just don't do it again, anyway what time are your friends coming over?"

"About 5 I think I'm going to go and get changed"

Emily then went upstairs so it was just Finn and Rachel

"You doing anything tonight Finn?"

"Is it okay if I go to a party?" Finn asked, he wasn't sure if his Mum would let him but he thought he may as well just ask first

"You've kept quiet about that one"

"Well I wasn't sure if I should ask you or not"

Rachel sighed realising Finn would go to this party whether she said yes or not and she would rather know the truth than be lied to so decided to let him go.

"I suppose so, but I do want you to behave yourself. I mean I'm not stupid I know there's going to be alcohol and whatever, but just be sensible Finn"

"I will" Finn said feeling quite shocked that his Mum had actually said yes without any persuasion whatsoever "thanks Mum"

Finn put The Inbetweeners back on again so Rachel decided to go and see what Lola was up to as she had disappeared upstairs as soon as they got in

When Rachel went into Lola's bedroom she found her daughter sat at her desk drawing

"What you doing love?"

"Drawing a picture of today" Lola said still concentrating on the picture she was doing, she always had loved drawing

"Well it looks very good so far, will you show me when it's done?"

"Yep"

Rachel then left her to it and decided to go and check on Emily. She knocked on the door however she didn't get a response so opened the door anyway but when she got in there she saw Emily wasn't there anyway

Rachel didn't know where Emily had gone so shouted to her daughter

"I'm in your room Mum" Emily called so Rachel went through

When she got to her room Rachel saw Emily sat at her dressing table going through her make up

"I want to get rid of this spot" Emily said turning her face around to show Rachel a spot that had come up on her face this morning

"It's not very big darling, I really doubt anyone will take any notice of it"

"It looks disgusting" Emily said tears filling her eyes

Rachel sighed, because Emily had really good clear skin Rachel knew she always got really upset and self- conscious whenever she did get a spot

"Right, let me see what I can do then"

Emily turned around on the stool that she was sat on so that she was facing Rachel

"You still look beautiful"

"No I don't, all you can see is that stupid spot it's not fair"

"I think you're really lucky with your skin darling, lots of other girls have much worse skin than you do"

"I know but it's just really noticeable"

"It looks much better now look, you can hardly see it" Rachel said once she was done

Emily turned around and was really pleased with how much better it looked. You could still see it a bit but it was nowhere near as noticeable as it had been before

"Thanks Mum"

"That's alright love"

"How's your stomach feeling now by the way, I forgot to ask you earlier"

"That's good then"

"Yeah I'm going to go and get changed now"

"Okay"

Rachel went back downstairs and was about to go into the kitchen when she heard someone knocking at the door so went to answer it.

"Hiya" Rachel said after answering the door and seeing Beth stood there

"Hello"

"You can go on up, Emily's just getting changed"

Beth then went upstairs to Emily's room, she'd been over quite a few times now so knew where it was

It wasn't long before all of Emily's friends had arrived and they were all up in her bedroom chatting.

Rachel asked if they were hungry or not, they all said yes so Rachel decided to get started on tea.

Once it was cooked she cut the pizzas and put them onto the table along with some garlic bread and salad. Then she called them all down.

"Mum please can we eat up in my room?"

"No I don't think so, you can eat in the lounge though and me and Lola will stay out here because I'm guessing you won't want our company"

The girls dished out their tea before going through to the lounge leaving just Rachel and Lola as Finn had gone to his friends before his party.

"The girls are sleeping in the lounge tonight so looks like we'll have to watch TV in the playroom" Rachel said

"Can we watch a film?"

"We can do but I thought you'd rather watch X Factor" Rachel said, they all liked Saturday nights in watching X factor

"Oh yeah I forgot it was Saturday. Can I watch it all Mummy?"

"We'll have to see" Rachel said knowing how tired Lola was after her party "we'll give you a bath and get you into your pyjamas beforehand so then you can just go straight to sleep after"

When Emily and all of her friends had finished eating they came out to the kitchen with their plates and Emily started to stack them into the dishwasher

"Just leave them on the side Em, I'll sort them out in a minute"

"Okay thanks Mum" Emily said before disappearing back up to her room with her friends

Lola put her plate into the dishwasher before going upstairs whilst Rachel cleared up. She went straight into her sister's room and started talking to Emily's friends

Of course they all thought she was really cute, Emily on the other hand was just finding her really annoying

"Leave us alone Lola, I don't come and play with you when you have friends over"

"I would let you if you wanted to but you never ask"

"Well we don't want you to play with us, we're talking about stuff you won't understand"

"Are you talking about periods and stuff because Mum's already told me all about them" Lola said making Emily's friends laugh

"Mum" Emily shouted so Rachel came upstairs

"What is it?" Rachel asked

"Lola won't leave us alone"

"Come on Lola, come and give me a hand"

"Emily said I couldn't stay here because they're talking about grown up stuff, but I already know about grown up stuff don't I Mum?"

"You know about some grown up stuff yes, but not everything. Out we go"

Rachel went back downstairs with Lola and tried to clean up the kitchen as quickly as she could

"Mum why didn't Emily want me to stay to talk with her and her friends"

"Just because she probably didn't want you to listen to the things they were saying, just like sometimes when you talk to me about things you might not want anyone else to hear"

"But I like talking to her friends they're fun"

"I know, I'm sure they'll let you come in for a bit at some point"

Once Rachel had finished clearing up she took Lola upstairs and started running her bath.

She went into Emily's room and saw that they'd all changed into their pyjamas

"Emily is it okay if Lola comes in with you just for ten minutes while I run her bath, she just wants to be with you for a bit" Rachel asked knowing Lola wasn't going to stop going on about it until she got to spend a bit of time with her big sister

"Fine then"

Lola went in with them until her bath was ready, but then she ran straight through to the bathroom when Rachel called her.

She quickly got undressed and climbed into the bath.

"One of your friends was telling me how you always say nice things about me to them"

"That's because you're the best Mum in the world"

"Aw thanks sweetheart, I'm glad you know you can always talk to me about anything"

Lola was quiet for a few moments before saying "Mum please can I ask you something now?"

"Of course you can?"

"Will you have another baby because I'd really like a little brother or sister. Finn has two little sisters and Emily has one little sister but I don't have any little sisters"

"I'm not going to be having anymore babies love"

"Why not Mummy? I thought if you have that period thing then you can have a baby"

"Yes but I just can't"

"Don't you have the period thing?"

"Well yes I do but that's not the only thing that you need to have a baby?"

"What else do you need?"

Rachel sighed knowing where this conversation was leading

"You need a man too"

"Oh well maybe Daddy would help you, or maybe Eddie would he's been over here loads lately" Lola said making Rachel laugh, however it also made her think a bit about how much time she had been spending with Eddie

"If only it was as simple as that"

"So I can't have a little brother or sister then?"

"I'm afraid not darling no, anyway I'm sure you wouldn't want one anyway it would mean you wouldn't be the baby of the family anymore"

"But I'm not a baby"

"I know you're not, but you're the youngest out of you, Finn and Emily aren't you?"

"Yes"

Rachel was glad that Lola didn't ask any more questions about the whole baby thing and had just left it there.

After her bath Rachel got Lola dried off and into her pyjamas before taking her through to her room so that she could dry her hair.

Emily was having a really good time with all of her friends however her stomach ache had come back again which she was really annoyed about.

She decided to go to the toilet however when she got into her en suite she realised that she must have come on her period again.

Emily knew that she didn't have any pads in there so knew she needed to go and get some from her Mum's bathroom.

"I'll be back in a minute"

"Where are you going?"

Emily didn't really want to tell them all, she'd told a couple of the girls there that she'd started her periods but she didn't really want them all knowing

"I just need to go and ask my Mum something" Emily said before going across the landing into her Mum's bedroom

She got a shock when she saw Rachel and Lola in there as she thought they'd gone back downstairs

"Hi love is everything alright?"

"Yeah I just need the loo"

"Is there something wrong with your bathroom"

"I need to get something as well" Emily said and Rachel immediately realised what she meant

"Oh okay"

Emily quickly went into her Mum's bathroom and closed the door behind her

"You go on through to the play room love, I'm just going to put my pyjamas on and then I'll be through as well"

Lola went into the playroom so Rachel changed into her pyjamas while she waited for Emily to come out

"Did you get your period again?" Rachel asked quietly when Emily opened the door

"Yeah" Emily sighed

"That's a shame love, is your stomach hurting again?"

"Yeah it's really sore"

"Do you want me to get you a hot water bottle or something?"

"But then everyone will probably guess I'm on my period"

"That doesn't matter does it? They're all girls"

"I guess. Yes please then, we're going to go down and watch x factor now"

"Okay I'll go and do it now then"

Rachel went down to the kitchen to fill up the hot water bottle, and by the time she brought it through the girls were all down there ready to watch x factor.

"I'll be upstairs if you need anything, okay?"

"Okay thanks Mum"

Rachel then left them to it so went and got comfy on the sofa in the play room with Lola.

"You were ages Mum"

"I know sorry about that, your sister needed a hot water bottle because she's got a stomach ache"

"She could of filled it up herself"

"Oi cheeky I always fill it up for you when you need one don't I?"

"Yes but I'm only 7"

Rachel let Lola stay up for the end of x factor however by the time it had finished Lola was really tired and could barely keep her eyes open.

"Come on then missus into the bathroom"

"I just want to go to sleep Mummy I'm tired"

"I know but you need to go for a wee and clean your teeth first, you don't want to have an accident do you?"

"No" Lola said before getting off the sofa and slowly walking into the bathroom

Rachel waited with her while she got sorted before taking her into her room and putting her into bed

"Mummy are we still having pancakes for breakfast?" Lola asked feeling a bit more awake now

"If that's what you want"

"I love pancakes"

"I know you do" Rachel said smiling "anyway time for sleep now"

"Okay night Mum love you"

"Love you too darling, see you in the morning"

Rachel waited with Lola until she fell asleep, which didn't take very long, before going downstairs to check on the girls.

When she got down there they were all chatting with the TV on in the background but no-one was watching it

"I'm just coming down to say goodnight"

"Okay night Mum"

"Please don't be too late to sleep tonight"

"Would we?"

"Urmm yes, good night"

Rachel went up to bed and read for an hour or so before turning off her lamp and going to sleep.

It was about four o clock when she woke up to go to the loo. However when she did she realised that she was really thirsty so decided to go downstairs and get a drink.

When she was halfway down the stairs she could hear all the girls in the lounge talking, she couldn't believe they were still up at this time.

When she went in there the light was still on and they were still sat around talking. It was a lot messier than it had been earlier too with pillows and blankets everywhere, and bras that the girls had clearly taken off strewn everywhere.

"Girls have you got any idea what time it is?"

"No what time is it?" Emily asked

"Four o clock in the bloody morning, you're going to be shattered in the morning. Definitely time to stop talking and go to sleep now"

"Okay sorry Mum"

Rachel waited while they all got comfy and then turned the light off. She went and had a drink before going back in to check that they were still settling down which she was pleased to see that they were.

"Night girls"

"Night Mum"

"Night Rachel"

Rachel went back up to bed and went to sleep.

The next day soon came around and Rachel made pancakes for everyone before all of Emily's friends went home.

"Did you have a nice time love?" Rachel asked once they'd all gone

"Yeah it was really good thank you, I'm so tired now though"

"Well it's no wonder considering the time you went to sleep at is there?"

"We just got a bit carried away"

They had a lazy day at home because Emily didn't feel like doing much at home and then in the evening they all watched x factor together before having early nights ready for school again in the morning.

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	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

It was a Friday evening and Emily had a couple of her friends over as it was the school disco tonight which both the boy's school and the girl's school went to.

Rachel was in Emily's bedroom with them all, as Emily was getting all stressed because apparently she had nothing to wear.

"I literally have nothing to wear" Emily shouted

"Calm down Em, I don't see anyone else making such a big deal over what they're going to wear" Rachel said but she knew how big a deal this was to all of them as it was the first time they were coming together with the boy's school

"I just won't go then I won't have to worry about looking like a freak"

"Now you're just talking rubbish, you have loads of things that you'll look absolutely lovely in darling"

Rachel continued to look through Emily's wardrobe and came across a nice dress that Emily always looked really nice in.

"How about this?"

"No way"

"Why what's wrong with it?"

"It nearly comes down to my ankles"

"Bit of an exaggeration I think, not everything you wear has to be ridiculously short you know"

"It also doesn't have to be an old granny's skirt"

"What about this then?" Rachel asked picking out a skirt

"Oh yeah I forgot about that, I could wear it with that new top I bought the other day"

"Well there you go then"

"I'll try it on"

Emily went over and got the top out of her drawer but then saw Rachel was still stood there

"Well aren't you going to go out while I get changed?"

"I've seen you get changed a million times before, I want to check sure you're happy with it and that you're not going to have another meltdown"

"Fine" Emily sighed before trying it on and finally deciding she was happy with what she was wearing

"I'll leave you girls to finish getting ready now then" Rachel said before going out of the room and closing the door behind her

Emily had changed so much over the last few months, she was definitely turning into more of a teenager every day.

Rachel had been so buys since they got in from school that she hadn't even changed out of her work clothes yet, so decided to go and put something a bit comfier on. She'd had quite a stressful week at work so was really pleased it was the weekend.

After changing she collapsed onto the bed and decided to just rest her eyes for five minutes.

She hadn't been lying there for long when Lola came in.

"Mummy why are you asleep? It's really early"

"I'm not asleep, I was just closing my eyes"

"Why?"

"Because I'm tired"

"Why?"

"Because I've had a busy week at work" Rachel said laughing "what's with all the whys?"

"I don't know I was just wondering what are we doing tonight Mum?"

"Well Emily's at her disco and Finn's at Abbie's so it's just you and me tonight what do you fancy doing?"

"Can we have a girly night like what you do with Emily Sometimes?"

"Of course we can. I don't really feel like cooking so do you fancy a takeaway?"

"Can we have Chinese?"

"Sounds good to me, I'll order it and then we can pick it up after we drop them off at the disco"

"Okay I'm going to go back and play now"

"Alright love we've got about an hour before we need to leave"

Lola left so Rachel stayed lying on her bed for a few more minutes before going downstairs to get on with some housework.

She was just hovering the stairs when Emily and her friends appeared so Rachel turned it off.

"Everything okay girls?"

"Mum please will you do our makeup like how you did it for me the other day. We've tried but it just looks rubbish"

"Yeah sure, am I doing all three of you?"

"Yes please"

"Come on then, come into my room"

The three girls followed Rachel into her bedroom and sat down on her bed.

"Shall I do you first Emily?" Rachel said, so Emily nodded before going and sitting at her Mum's dressing table

Rachel saw the badly applied foundation all over Emily's face so assumed she'd already been at her makeup.

"I see you've already been using my makeup" Rachel said

"Yep, sorry"

"It's alright love" Rachel replied, she didn't like Emily wearing face makeup on a daily basis but she didn't mind for special occasions

Rachel took off the makeup that Emily already had on before applying some more.

When Rachel had finished Emily looked in the mirror and saw what Rachel had done, she definitely did look a lot older.

When Rachel was done all three of them were really pleased with how they looked.

"Not long before we need to go girls" Rachel said

"Okay we just need to finish doing our hair then we're ready"

Once the three girls were ready they all got into the car ready to go to the disco.

When they got to the school Rachel watched to make sure they went in before driving off again.

"Mum will I come to this school when I'm Emily's age?"

"I don't know sweetheart, we'll have to see if you want to nearer the time won't we?"

"It feels strange not having Emily at the same school as me"

"Better or worse?"

"Better, she always used to come over and try and talk to me and it was so annoying" Lola said making Rachel laugh

"I thought it would have been the other way around"

Rachel had already ordered their Chinese so they called in on the way home to pick it up which luckily didn't take long because they were both starving by now.

"We'll eat on our laps tonight if you like, so you go and put the TV on and I'll dish it up"

Rachel quickly got their dinner dished out before taking it through to the lounge.

"It's really cold in here Mum"

"It has gone quite cold actually, I might have to put the heating on"

Rachel gave Lola hers before going to turn the heating on and then coming back in with her own.

"Hopefully it should warm up in a minute"

After they'd finished eating Rachel took their plates out to the kitchen and quickly tied up a bit before going back into the lounge

"Right then, what we going to do?"

"Can we paint nails first then do hair then do makeup and then do massages" Lola asked sounding excited

"I don't think we'll have time to do all of that tonight love, how about we leave out the hair and makeup and just do nails"

"And massages"

"If we've got time before we pick up Emily, I'll just go and get all my stuff"

Rachel disappeared up to her room while Lola waited downstairs

As soon as Rachel came back down Lola took the stuff off her and picked out all of her favourite colours

"I'll do yours first Mum"

"Oh you're doing mine are you? I thought I was doing mine"

"You can do mine after"

Rachel was a bit reluctant to let Lola do her nails as she wasn't sure about how they would turn out and if she took it off she knew this would upset Lola, but she also knew that her daughter wouldn't take no for an answer so rested her hands on the tray she'd brought in and then Lola started to paint her Mum's nails

After she was done Rachel was actually pleasantly surprised with how good a job Lola had done, they actually looked really good and would be fine once she'd tidied them up around the edges a bit

"Thanks Lola, you've done a really good job"

"I was going to do you rainbow nails but I thought you wouldn't keep that on so I just did them all one colour"

"Of course I wouldn't have taken it off, but I have to admit I do prefer them like this I think. I'll just let these dry and then I'll do yours"

While they were sitting there Lola's stomach began to hurt a bit however she didn't want to say anything to her Mum in case she made her go up to bed, and she really didn't want to do this as she was really looking forward to having her Mum to herself for the night

Rachel heard her phone vibrate on the coffee table so picked it up and saw she had a message from Emily asking if she could have one of her friends sleepover after the disco

Rachel didn't have a problem with this so text back saying it was fine.

After about 10 minutes Rachel thought her nails were probably dry enough to paint Lola's

"Shall I do yours now?" Rachel asked and Lola nodded before getting comfy

"What colour do you want?"

"I don't mind you can choose"

"Okay I'll see what I can do then"

While Rachel was doing her daughter's nails, Lola's stomach began to hurt quite a lot and she realised that she really needed the loo however she didn't want to go because she didn't want to smudge them

Rachel noticed that her daughter had gone quite quiet and looked a bit uncomfortable

"You okay love?" Rachel asked to which Lola nodded but then started shaking her head

"I have a really bad tummy ache and I really need the toilet"

"Okay well you'd better go then"

"What if I smudge my nails though"

"Just be careful, and if you do I'll just have to take it off and start again"

Lola was about to respond but then had to dart off to the toilet.

After a few minutes Lola returned and sat back down next to her Mum

"Does your stomach feel any better now love?"

"Yes thank you" Lola said before putting her hands down so that Rachel could paint her nails again

"They aren't too bad, this ones a bit smudged but I'll do it again"

Once Rachel had finished doing Lola's nails they decided to put a film on while both of their nails dried properly.

"Can we do now massages now Mum?"

"You don't like to sit still for very long do you" Rachel said rolling her eyes "let me feel your nails then"

"I think their dry enough, do you want me to do you first or are you going to do me"

"I'll do you first"

Rachel laid on the sofa after taking her top off so that her daughter could give her a massage, Lola always had liked doing this ever since she was very young.

She ended up getting all relaxed and had nearly fallen asleep by the time that Lola had finished

"Mum I've stopped so you have to do me now"

"You didn't do it for very long"

"Yes I did I was doing you for ages, it's my turn"

"Okay then"

Rachel sat up and put her top back on so Lola laid down ready to get her massage from her Mum.

"You're really good at massages Mum"

"I'm glad you think so"

Rachel did it for a little while and after that luckily Lola agreed to just sit down and watch a film for the rest of the time before it was time to pick Lola up.

"I suppose we'd better get going, though I expect your sister will probably be one of the last ones out like she normally is" Rachel said as Emily would always stay around chatting for ages after things

"I don't want to go outside again though it's all warm and cosy in here"

"Sorry love, not a lot I can do about that not long though and we'll be home again"

Lola reluctantly got up off the sofa and went out to the hallway with her Mum. Rachel put her coat on her and wrapped a scarf around Lola as it wasn't a very nice evening at all.

She wrapped herself up nice and warm too before they both got into the car and drove to pick up Emily.

As soon as they pulled into the car park Rachel text Emily to say they were outside, but said there was no rush as she could see everyone else was inside still.

Much to her surprise Emily came out almost instantly and she didn't have any of her friends with her either.

Emily got into the car and Rachel could instantly tell there was something up with her daughter.

"I thought you were asking someone to sleepover tonight"

"I changed my mind, I feel really tired now so didn't really feel like having anyone over tonight"

"Okay then, we'll get going then so you can get to sleep soon"

Emily didn't respond to this, just looked out of the window and started staring into space

It was obvious to Rachel that something had happened at the disco but decided not to say anything with Lola in the car, knowing Emily would be less likely to open up with her little sister there

When they got home they all walked inside and started taking off their stuff

Emily couldn't help but start to cry, however she didn't want anyone to know so tried to brush her tears away before quickly running upstairs.

Rachel watched as her daughter went up starting to feel a bit worried about her. She decided to give her a few minutes before going up to speak to her though, figuring that she would probably want a bit of time to herself

"I think it's time we got you into your pyjamas and into bed missus"

"Don't I need a bath first?"

"No don't bother with that tonight"

"But I didn't have one last night either"

"We'll just make sure you have one in the morning then"

Rachel took Lola upstairs and into her bedroom

"Mum was Emily crying when we got in?"

"I'm not sure sweetheart, I think she might have been"

"Why?"

"I'm not sure, I'm going to have a little chat with her in a minute to try and find out"

"I don't like it when Emily gets upset Mum"

"I know you don't love, don't you worry though I'll sort it all out just like whenever you're feeling a bit upset"

"You always make me feel better Mum whenever I feel sad"

"That's what I'm here for isn't it?" Rachel said smiling "anyway come on get those clothes off"

Lola took off the clothes she was wearing and got changed into her pretty pink pyjamas.

"Go and clean your teeth and go for a wee, I'll wait here"

Lola quickly ran off so Rachel sat on Lola's bed to wait for her daughter.

After a couple of minutes Lola came back so Rachel pulled the quilt back so that Lola could climb into bed.

"Night night Lola, see you in the morning"

"Can't you sit with me for a bit Mum?"

"No because I need to go and speak to your sister"

"What if I can't get to sleep though"

"I'll come back in and check on you after I've seen Emily, but I'm sure you'll be fast asleep by then it's way past your bedtime so you must be shattered"

"Okay night Mum"

"Love you lots sweetheart"

"Love you too"

Lola then turned over so Rachel gave her a quick kiss before flicking Lola's lamp off and then walking out.

When she got to Emily's bedroom she saw her door was closed so knocked on the door

"Go away, I'm trying to get to sleep" Emily shouted

"Well let me say goodnight then" Rachel said before opening the door and walking in however when she got in there she saw Emily was still in her clothes, she also saw Emily's very tearstained face

"What's happened sweetheart?" Rachel asked rushing over to her daughter

Emily didn't say anything just buried her head in Rachel's chest and cried

Rachel stroked Emily's back trying to soothe her, however this just seemed to make Emily cry even more

"That's okay, you have a good cry darling" Rachel said

After a good ten minutes of crying Emily eventually began to calm down.

"What on earth's happened to make you so upset Em? You were so happy before you left"

"Nothing really, I'm just being stupid"

"It's clearly nothing, I don't think you'd be this upset over nothing do you?"

"I don't want to talk about it"

"Why not? I just want to help you"

"Because it's really embarrassing and I don't want you to be cross with me"

"I really don't think I'm going to be cross when you're this upset about it, come on sweetheart I'm your Mum you know you can always tell me anything"

"Something happened at the disco"

"What happened?"

"Well there was this boy, he seemed a lot older than me I think he was in year 9 or something" Emily said but then stopped

"Go on" Rachel encouraged

"Well we were kind of kissing" Emily said as her cheeks started to flush a bit "but then he tried to put his hand up my skirt"

"I just ran off, but everyone found out and they all think I'm really frigid now"

Rachel couldn't help but feel sorry for her 12 year old daughter, to her Emily was still her little girl and didn't feel old enough at all to be going through any of this yet

"Well you did the right thing walking away, you're only 12 so I don't blame you for not feeling ready to do that sort of thing"

"Loads of other girls have though"

"In your year?"

"Some"

"Well I'm sure they regretted it after, just think how you'd be feeling now if you hadn't stopped him. I know it might not feel like it now, but believe me you're going to be so pleased once you've calmed down that you didn't do it"

"I guess"

"I know you're growing up now love, but you are still only a little girl really and believe me you don't want to be doing any of that stuff yet"

"I know"

"Good girl, are you feeling any better now?"

"Yeah, thanks Mum"

"Something you'll learn as you get older is boys are always after sex" Rachel started but then Emily stopped her

"Mum we really don't need to talk about this anymore"

"I know, I just think it's a good time to talk about it, I hope you won't even be thinking about it yet but I just never want you to feel pressured into doing anything you don't want to do"

"I won't Mum"

"Just as soon as you start to feel uncomfortable, walk away and talk about it with someone even if it's not me and it's something you'd rather talk about with your friends"

"Okay"

Rachel could tell that Emily was starting to feel really uncomfortable with the conversation they were having now so decided to leave it there.

"Well you know where I am if you're feeling upset again, but I think you'll be okay in the morning once you've had chance to think everything through and you realise how brave you were for walking away"

"I know"

"Anyway are you going to get ready for bed?"

"Yeah I'm really tired"

"Make sure you take all that makeup off properly though"

"I will"

"I'm going to go and get ready for bed myself and then I'll be back into say goodnight"

"Okay"

Rachel then got up to go out squeezing Emily's shoulder on the way out

She remembered she said she'd check in on Lola, Rachel was expecting her to be fast asleep by now however when she went into her room she saw Lola still looking very wide awake.

"And why are you not asleep yet?"

"I'm sorry Mum but I really can't get to sleep, I promise I have been trying"

"It's okay, it's not your fault if you've been trying, how come you can't get sleep?"

"I was just worried about Emily"

"That's very nice of you love, you really are very kind aren't you? But I've spoken to Emily and she's feeling a lot happier now"

"What was wrong with her?"

"That's nothing for you to worry about darling"

"Is she still sad?"

"A little bit but she's feeling a lot happier now though I think"

"That's good then"

"It is, shall I come in for a cuddle before you go to sleep?"

"Yes please Mummy"

"Budge up a bit then"

Lola moved up so Rachel squeezed in next to her.

Lola snuggled into her Mum and with Rachel stroking her hair it didn't take long at all for her to fall asleep.

Rachel laughed when she heard her daughter starting to snore.

She laid there for a few more minutes before gently sliding out from underneath Lola and creeping out of the room.

When she got into her own bedroom she saw Emily lying on her bed

"Hey love you okay?"

"Yeah I was coming to find you to say goodnight"

"Sorry Lola was still awake so I sat with her for a bit, she was so worried about you bless her"

"You didn't tell her why I was upset though did you?"

"No of course I didn't, I definitely don't think it's something for her little ears"

"Good"

"I'll just put my pyjamas on and then I'll come and give you a big cuddle"

Rachel got a fresh pair of pyjamas out of her drawer and quickly got changed into them. She then climbed into her big bed and wrapped her arms around Emily.

Emily snuggled into her Mum, a cuddle off her Mum was definitely what she needed right now. She was so glad she always had her Mum to help her through stuff she didn't know where she'd be without her.

"Thanks Mum… for everything"

"That's okay darling, you know I'm always here. No matter how embarrassing you think it is, it's always best to tell me because remember I was your age once"

"I know, I love you Mum"

"I love you too sweetheart, more than anything"

The pair of them stayed quite for a bit just cuddling up to one another but when Rachel looked down at Emily she saw she'd fallen asleep. She didn't have the heart to wake her so decided to just let her sleep in her bed for the night.

Rachel got herself comfy before dropping off to sleep herself.

It was quite late for Rachel when she woke up the next morning and when she looked at the clock she was surprised she hadn't seen Lola yet this morning, but thinking about it she had had quite a late night last night.

Just as Rachel was thinking that Lola had had a good lie in she saw her bedroom door being pushed open and then Lola stood there looking sleepy.

"Morning love, have you just woken up" Rachel asked and Lola nodded her head

"You coming in for a cuddle?"

Lola quickly went over to Rachel's side of the bed so Rachel moved up a bit so that she could get in

"Why's Emily in here?"

"She fell asleep in here last night when she came in for a cuddle so I just let her sleep in here"

Emily started to stir a bit so sat up in bed and saw her Mum and Lola, she was surprised to be in her Mum's bed but then remembered coming in here for a cuddle last night and not going back to her own bed

"Did I fall asleep in here last night?"

"Yep"

"Sorry, I hope you still had a good night sleep" Emily said knowing what a pain she was to share a bed with as she was really fidgety and usually ended up sleeping across the whole bed

"It wasn't too bad I did have to move you back up the bed at one point" Rachel said laughing

Rachel was glad to see Emily looking a lot happier than she had been last night and hoped she was feeling happier too.

"You feeling better this morning?"

"Yes thank you"

"That's good, what do you two fancy doing today then? I thought we could all go out somewhere"

"Can we go to the cinema Mum?" Lola asked

"I would say so the weather looks pretty miserable, again. Is that okay with you Em?"

"Yeah sounds good, can we go shopping too though?"

"I don't see why not"

The three of them had a lazy morning and then went out in the afternoon. Rachel asked Finn if he wanted to come but he decided to spend the day with Abbie. So the girls had a nice day out just the three of them.


	16. Chapter 16

**Just as a warning some people may find this upsetting to read as it includes a rape storyline. **

Chapter 16

It was a Friday night and Rachel had just finished eating tea with her children and was now over to Mel's. Mel had rang up earlier asking her to come over, of course Rachel had agreed to come especially after hearing the worry in her sister's voice.

"Mummy why can't I come I want to play with Rosie" Lola asked

"Because I need to talk to Auntie Mel about something, Rosie will probably be in bed by now anyway"

"Can I stay up until you get back though?"

"Yeah I'm not going to be too long, why don't the three of you put a film on and try not to argue while I'm gone" Rachel said knowing her children did tend to fight over the silliest of things

"We'll try" Emily said

Rachel went out into the hallway and got her coat and shoes on, she was just about to walk out of the door when Lola came running out.

"What is it love?"

"Mum please can we a special treat tonight?"

"The three of you have been very good this week so I suppose I could pick something up on the way home"

"Thanks Mummy" Lola said wrapping her arms around your Mum

"But only if you're good while I'm gone"

"We will be don't worry" Lola said before skipping back into the lounge leaving Rachel to leave

Rachel got into the car and started to drive to Mel's. She wondered what was wrong with her sister but expected her to be having more troubles with whichever boyfriend it was that she had at the minute.

After the relatively short drive to Mel's Rachel got out of the car and knocked on the front door. It was Phil who answered

"Hiya Phil"

"Hi Rach, come in"

Phil shifted awkwardly away from the door to let his Aunt in

"How are you? Everything okay with you at the minute?"

"Yeah, Ros is upstairs so I'l erm better get back to her"

"Yeah of course, where's your Mum?"

"The last time I saw her I think she was in the kitchen"

"Thanks love"

Rachel then made her way through to the kitchen where she found Mel sat at the table making her way through a bottle of wine.

"What's going on Mel? Why did you want to see me?"

"It's Amber"

"What's wrong with Amber?"

"That's the thing, she won't tell me. She keeps saying it's nothing but there's obviously got to be something wrong with her, I've never seen her like this before Rach"

"What do you mean?"

"She barely eats or speaks a word and by the looks of it she hasn't been sleeping either" Mel said her eyes filling with tears as she really was so worried about her daughter

"When did this start?"

"She's been like it for a couple of weeks now, ever since she got back from her Dad's"

"Do you want me to have a word?" Rachel offered

"If you don't mind" Mel said giving a weak smile

"Is she upstairs?"

"Yeah in her room I think"

Rachel went upstairs and walked across the landing to Amber's bedroom. When she got there she knocked on the door but Amber just shouted "go away"

"It's Rachel, can I come in?"

"No"

Rachel didn't know what to do, as she didn't want Amber to be cross with her for going in when she'd asked her not to because that would be likely to just make things worse, but she did want to have a chat with Amber so went in anyway

When she got in there Rachel found her niece lying on her bed. She had no makeup on and her hair was scraped back in a ponytail, which was so unlike Amber.

Rachel shut the door behind her before going and sitting on Amber's double bed next to her. She'd been expecting Amber to say something, but she just turned over so that she was facing in the opposite direction to where Rachel was sitting.

"Your Mum's really worried about you Amber, do you know that?"

"I've already told her I'm fine" Amber mumbled

"I do have to agree with your Mum on this one, you don't really seem yourself"

"You've only been here for two minutes, I'm just tired that's all"

Rachel didn't say anything for a few moments but then said, "you know if you told me something I promise I won't tell anyone else not if you don't want me to"

"There's nothing to tell"

It was obvious to Rachel that Amber wasn't about to open up to her at the moment but she did want to help her sister out, so thought it might be best if Amber came and stayed at her house for a couple of night, as in the past Amber had told things to her Aunt that she would never have dreamed telling her Mum about

"Okay, well how do you fancy coming and staying with your old Auntie for the weekend?"

"I'm fine here"

"Please Amber, none of us have seen you for ages I know Emily and Lola have missed you coming over"

Amber knew her Aunt too well to know that she wouldn't stop until she got what she wanted, so ended up agreeing to go.

"Fine then I'll go with you"

"Thanks love, you going to pack up some stuff then?"

Amber nodded before getting up off her bed and getting a bag out to put all of her stuff in. She chucked in a few things, but she really couldn't be bothered at all.

"I'm just going to the loo, then I'm ready"

Rachel looked in the bag and saw how little she'd packed so decided to pack up a few of the other bits she knew her niece would want.

Amber came back from the bathroom with all of her toiletries so put them in before going downstairs with Rachel.

"Amber's going to stay with me for the weekend, aren't you love?"

"Yep"

"Oh are you? Okay if that's what you want to do"

Amber nodded before going out to put her shoes on

"Did she tell you what's wrong?" Mel asked her hopefully

"No, but maybe she will at some point when she's ready"

"You'll keep me in the loop though won't you?"

"Course I will Mel" Rachel said before giving her sister a little hug

The two of them said goodbye to Mel before going and getting into Rachel's car.

Rachel started the drive home with Amber staring out of the window. There was no point in trying to talk to Amber as she clearly wasn't in the mood for talking, so the two of them sat in silence.

"I'm going to call into Tesco on the way back if that's okay, I said I'd pick up some stuff for night"

"Okay"

"Is there anything you want?"

"No I'm fine thanks"

"Are you sure?"

"Yep"

Rachel parked the car before reaching into the back seat to get her bag.

"You coming in with me or waiting here?"

"I'll wait here"

Rachel didn't think it likely that her niece would go out with no makeup on but she thought it was best she asked.

Rachel quickly picked up some chocolate and other little bits that she knew the kids would all like before going back to the car and driving home.

As soon as they pulled up on the drive Amber got out of the car and started to walk towards the house.

It was so unlike Amber to be like this, so distant.

Rachel got Amber's bag out of the boot before going and unlocking the front door so the two of them could go in.

Emily had just come downstairs so saw her Mum and Amber come in the door

"What's Amber doing here? Is she sleeping over tonight?"

"Yep, are you three watching a film?"

"Yeah I just went up to put my phone on charge"

"Are you going to come in and watch it Amber?"

"I think I'm going to go upstairs for a bit"

"Alright then love"

Amber started walking towards the stairs but then turned back around to face Rachel

"Is it okay if I sleep in the spare room tonight?" normally she would sleep in Emily's bedroom whenever she stayed over but she didn't fancy that tonight, especially when she'd cried herself to sleep every night for nearly the past two weeks

"Of course it is, if that's what you want" Rachel said "here's all of your stuff"

Amber took the bag off her Aunt before going upstairs

Rachel was very worried about her niece and really did hope she'd be able to get to the bottom of whatever it was upsetting her so much.

"Come on then you, let's go and watch this film" Rachel said putting her arm around Emily

The two of them went into the lounge and sat down.

"Mum is Amber okay?" Emily asked "she seems really upset"

"I don't know really love, I think she just wants a bit of time to herself so it's probably best we just leave her to it for the minute"

"Is Amber here now?" Lola asked

"Yeah she's going to stay here for the weekend"

"Why?"

"Just because"

They watched to the end of the film before Rachel agreed to go to the kitchen to make them all a hot chocolate.

When she got in there she saw Amber leaning on the kitchen side

"I'm just making some hot chocolate, do you want one?" Rachel asked

"No I'm fine thank you, I was just going to get a glass of water"

"I'll get it for you"

Rachel got a glass out of the cupboard and filled it up for Amber. She was just about to pass it to her when Finn came up behind Amber and squeezed the top of her arms

Amber immediately flinched and Rachel saw how petrified she looked

"God Ambs it's only me, did you think I was some murdered or something"

"Sorry you just made me jump that's all"

Rachel passed the drink to Amber

"Are you going to come in and sit with us for a bit now?"

"I'm just going to go up to bed, I've got a really bad headache"

"Do you want a painkiller then?"

"I took one earlier"

"Okay, well just shout if you want anything"

"I will"

Amber went back upstairs so Rachel started making the hot chocolates.

When they were ready she took them into the lounge and then decided to nip upstairs with Lola to get her ready for bed.

Amber heard Rachel and Lola come up so decided to go and ask Rachel if she could borrow a pyjama top as she knew she hadn't picked up any earlier

Rachel was helping Lola to get changed when Amber came in

"Rach I forgot to pack any pyjamas can I borrow one of your pyjama tops to sleep in please?"

"I packed some for you, I noticed you hadn't put any pyjamas in the bag so I got some out of your drawer"

"Oh did you, thank you"

Amber went back to the spare room and started going through the bag. She eventually found the pyjamas that Rachel had packed but when she did she immediately freaked out. Seeing those pyjamas just made it all seem so real again.

Amber threw the pyjamas on the floor before running into the bathroom and slamming the door shut behind her

"I'll be back in a sec" Rachel said before going over to the bathroom door. When she got there she heard Amber crying hysterically in there

"Amber it's me can you let me in please love?"

Amber didn't say anything or let her Aunt in. Rachel could hardly leave her niece in there like that so quickly went and got a coin out of her purse so that she could twist the lock.

Rachel opened the door and walked over to her niece, where Amber fell into her Auntie's arms letting the tears fall down her face

Lola could hear Amber crying from her bedroom so went to find out what was going on

"Mummy why's Amber crying?" Lola asked clearly very worried about her cousin

"I don't know sweetheart, I need to speak to her now though so can you do me a big favour and go downstairs?"

"Will she be okay?"

"Yep, don't worry Lola everything will be okay I promise"

Reluctantly, Lola left the bathroom and went downstairs so Rachel could turn her attention back to Amber

Rachel rubbed Amber's back while she continued to cry. Amber was getting herself really worked up and Rachel didn't know what to do to calm her down. Seeing her niece so upset was making it hard for Rachel to keep the tears back herself

"Try and take some deep breaths for me"

Amber did as her Aunt said but then started to feel really sick

"I'm going to be sick" Amber said before rushing over to the toilet where she immediately started being sick

Rachel held her hair back and rubbed her back whilst Amber continued to throw up

After a while Amber did stop being sick but she was shaking violently with tears still rolling down her face. Rachel just held her while she cried not knowing what else to do.

It took a while but eventually Amber did calm down, by the time she had she was lying on the bathroom floor resting her head on Rachel's lap

"I'm sorry"

"You have nothing to be sorry for sweetheart, you're really worrying me though so I need you to tell me what's wrong"

"I can't"

"Yes you can, you know you can tell me anything there's nothing that we can't deal with together, absolutely nothing"

"Even if I tell you it won't change anything"

"No maybe not, but believe me talking things through can make things one hell of a lot easier. You don't need to go through this alone, you have so many people around you who love you so much and just want to do whatever they can to make you feel happy"

"Please don't make me say it Rach" Amber sobbed starting to get worked up again

"Okay, okay I won't make you tell me how about I run you a bath though?" Rachel said and Amber nodded

Amber sat up so that Rachel could stand up, she then started running the bath for her niece. She made it nice and hot and put loads of bubbles in.

"Just shout if there's anything you want"

Rachel then left Amber so that she could get in the bath and went downstairs where she found Lola crying on the sofa cuddled up to Emily.

"Hey what's up love?"

"Why was Amber crying like that Mummy? I didn't like it"

Rachel sat down on the sofa and put her youngest daughter on her lap.

"You know when you're upset, really really upset so you cry lots and lots"

"Yes"

"Well I think that Amber is really really upset, which is why she was crying so much"

"Does she feel better now she's had a cry? Because you always say to me it makes you feel better"

"Hopefully, she's just in the bath at the minute, but you don't need to get worried. Everything will be okay in the end"

"Okay Mummy"

Rachel dried Lola's tears for her before giving her a cuddle

"Right, another half an hour and I think it's time for you to go bed missy"

"Do I have to? I want to stay up with you you've hardly spent any time with me tonight"

"I'm with you now, you know what happens when I let you stay up too late you get all tired and grumpy the next day and we don't want that do we?"

"I don't get tired and grumpy Mummy"

"I beg to differ" Rachel said laughing "you've still got half an hour, so just make the most of the time you have go and don't go moaning about it"

Lola rested sat back against her Mum and watched TV, however she then realised that she was actually really tired and she was struggling to keep her eyes open. She kept feeling them close but she'd immediately open them again as she didn't want anyone to know she was falling asleep.

It was a bit longer than half an hour that Rachel let Lola stay up, but when she saw the time she realised she needed to get her daughter up to bed.

"Time for bed, come on up you get"

Lola let out a yawn as she stood up, she really did just want to get into bed now.

Rachel lead her daughter up the stairs

"Quickly go to the bathroom then"

"I want to go to bed"

"You just need to clean your teeth and go for a wee then you can, you don't want to have an accident do you?"

"No"

Amber was still in the bath in the main bathroom so Rachel took Lola through to her en suite

"You go to the loo and I'll have a look for a new toothbrush, I think I have one in the cupboard"

It didn't get long for Lola to get sorted so then Rachel carried her through to bed and got her tucked in.

Rachel stayed in there stroking her hair for a couple of minutes and it didn't take long for Lola to drop off to sleep.

When she went out Rachel decided to go and check on Amber as she had been in the bath for quite a while now.

Rachel knocked on the door but got the response.

"It's just me, is it okay if I come in?" Rachel asked as she was feeling a bit concerned

When she still got no response Rachel opened the door and went in

She saw her niece in the bath just completely zoned out staring into her space her thoughts clearly some place else.

"That water can't be very warm anymore, are you ready to get out"

Amber didn't say anything, just started to stand up so Rachel passed her a towel to wrap around herself. She saw that she hadn't washed her hair but it didn't really need doing so Rachel decided not to say anything.

Rachel guided Amber into the spare room and helped her to get changed into her pyjamas. Seeing her like this was even worse than before when she was crying.

Rachel sat on the bed thinking about the best thing to say. She really wanted Amber to open up to her now.

Amber laid down on the bed so Rachel laid down next to her and pulled Amber's head into her chest.

They stayed cuddled up for ages but Amber wasn't showing any emotion at all.

"Tell me" Rachel said simply and Amber did. There was nothing that Rachel could have done to prepare her for what she was about to hear

"He raped me" Amber said before bursting into tears

Rachel was so shocked, how could someone possibly do that to her fifteen year old niece. Just the thought of it made her feel sick

"Who did?"

"Dad's step son. I've always felt really uncomfortable around him, but then the last time we were at Dad's I'd just gone up to bed to go to sleep and he came into my bedroom. He just forced himself on me. I tried to push him off but I was too weak. I tried to scream but nothing would come out. So in the end I just let it happen"

Hearing this made Rachel cry. She felt so sorry for her niece and wished there was something she could do to make her stop hurting. But right now there was nothing she could do other than hold her while she cried, while they both cried.

"I'm so sorry my love, so so sorry"

"What are you sorry for? You didn't do anything wrong"

"I'm sorry that you had to go through what you did and that you've kept it to yourself for so long"

"It's my own fault, I was too weak"

"Don't you ever ever believe that this was your fault, because it wasn't. It's his, all his fault just make sure you remember that"

Amber cried continuously into her Aunt until she tired herself out and fell asleep from crying so much.

Rachel gently moved her and covered her with the quilt before kissing her on the forehead and going into her en suite.

Emily was beginning to wonder what her Mum was doing as she'd said she was just putting Lola to bed, so went up to see what she was doing.

When Emily got into her Mum's room she saw her in her bathroom and was shocked when she saw her Mum's tearstained face. Emily hadn't seen her Mum this upset for quite a while now.

"Mum why are you crying?" Emily asked sounding worried

"Oh Em, come here I could really do with a cuddle right now" Rachel said so Emily went over and wrapped her arms around her Mum

"What's happened Mum?"

"Something terrible, but I can't tell you yet. I am going to tell you because I think you do need to know, but not until tomorrow okay?"

As much as Emily really did want to know now because she was really worried, she could see how upset her Mum was and how serious this was so she didn't bother to argue.

"Okay Mum"

"Are you going to go and get ready for bed? I'll be in in a minute, I just need to ring Mel first"

"Can I finish what I was watching with Finn first?"

"Yeah that's fine"

Emily went out and went downstairs. Rachel followed her down to get the phone before going back up to her bedroom and closing the door behind her.

She was dreading having to be the one to tell Mel what had happened, she didn't know how she would cope with the news and she knew that Mel would blame herself.

Obviously Mel wanted to come around to see her daughter, but Rachel said she was asleep so Mel agreed to wait until the next day.

"Do you think we should ring the police?" Mel asked

"Yeah of course we should, but you know what that's going to mean for Amber don't you?"

"A medical examination, she's going have to tell the police all the details of what happened"

"Poor girl"

"How's she ever going to get through this Rach?"

"It's going to take a while that's for sure, but she will eventually"

Rachel stayed on the phone to her sister for a while before hanging up and getting ready for bed.

She went into Emily's bedroom where she was sat up in bed looking worried.

"We'll have a proper chat tomorrow darling, okay?"

"You promise you'll tell me what's going on?"

"I promise"

"Is it to do with Amber?"

"Yes love"

Rachel said goodnight to Emily before going down to say goodnight to Finn and then getting into bed.

She was awake for most of the night though, just thinking about everything that Amber had told her.

Rachel was glad when morning came as it meant she didn't have to lie there trying to get to sleep anymore.

She was just thinking about getting up when she saw Amber stood at her doorway.

"Morning love, do you fancy coming in for a cuddle?" Rachel said

Amber nodded before going in and climbing in next to her Aunt.

"Will I ever feel okay again Rach?"

"Eventually, I'll tell you this it is going to take a while but in the end things will get back to normal. I mean if I'm being completely honest with you you're never going to forget this but you will learn to live with it and things will get easier"

"How long will it take?"

"That I don't know"

Although she still felt incredibly shaken up by everything, she did fee the slightest bit better after telling Rachel about it.


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

A week had passed and Amber was still staying with Rachel, despite her Mum continuously trying to persuade her to come home Amber just felt so much safer when she was around her Aunt and didn't feel ready to come home yet.

Rachel had arranged for Amber to speak to a counsellor and it was definitely helping her, obviously she was still extremely shaken up by it all but Rachel was definitely seeing parts of Amber's usual self starting to return.

The bell for the end of the day had just gone so Rachel was waiting for Amber and Finn to come up to her office, before she could go home.

Finn came up first and sat down on the red sofa.

"Good day?" Rachel asked her son

"No, I had a test in two lessons who does that on the last day of term?"

"Oh well at least they're done now"

"I'm so glad its half term"

"Yeah me too" Rachel said, this term had definitely felt like a long one so she really was looking forward to having a week off

It wasn't long before Amber came up too, as soon as she came in Rachel could tell she'd been crying but decided not to say anything with Finn there knowing she wouldn't say what was up with him there.

"Come on then you two, let's get home"

Rachel picked up all of her stuff and then the three of them went and got into the car.

"Have you two got any plans this weekend?" Rachel asked

"I've got a party tomorrow night" Finn replied

"How about you Ambs? Are you going to Sam's party tomorrow?" Rachel had had to cover a couple of year 11 lessons today due to teachers being absent and it was all anyone seemed to be talking about it, she didn't really mind all of the chat though as it was the last day of term after all so obviously everyone was going to be excited

"No I don't feel like it"

"Why not? It would probably do you good to get out for a bit"

"I just said I didn't feel like it didn't I?" Amber snapped before turning to face out of the window hoping no-one would see the tears starting to form in her eyes

Rachel didn't see anything more on the subject on the drive home

"Aren't we picking Lola up?" Finn asked once he realised that they were nearly home

"Grandma said she'd drop her over"

When they got in Finn and Rachel both went into the kitchen however Amber ran up the stairs into her bedroom

Rachel sighed, she really did think that Amber was starting to get better.

"Do you want a coffee Mum?" Finn asked

"That's got to be a first"

"What has?"

"You offering to make me a drink"

"Well you just look quite tired"

"Thank you very much" Rachel said laughing but she knew that she did look very tired "that'd be lovely thanks love"

Making the most of the opportunity Rachel sat down at the table while Finn put the kettle on. She hadn't been sat down for long when there was a knock at the door so she had to get up to answer it

When she opened it she saw her Mum and Lola stood there

Lola immediately wrapped her arms around her Mum to give her a big cuddle

The three of them went into the kitchen and sat down at the table

"Do you want a drink Grandma?" Finn asked

"A cup of tea would be nice"

"Please can I have a cup of tea too Finn?"

"You won't like it"

"Yes I will"

Finn gave them their drinks before disappearing up to their rooms.

Once it had cooled down Lola had a sip of hers

"I don't like it" Lola said pulling a face

"There's a surprise"

"I don't want any more Mummy"

"That's okay, are you going to go and get changed out of your school uniform though? Then I can put a load of washing on as soon as Emily gets home"

Lola went upstairs to her room to get changed so then it was just Rachel and her Mum in the kitchen

"How's Amber doing now?" Sue asked quietly

"I don't know, I thought she was doing better but she seems really upset again now"

"It's only natural Rach, what happened to her really is awful so she'd bound to take a while to get over it"

"I know, I just hate seeing her so upset you know?"

"She'll get better eventually, she just needs time. How long is she going to stay here for?"

"I don't know she's adamant she doesn't want to go home at the minute, of course I don't mind her staying here but I know Mel desperately wants her home"

"Mel only wants what's best for her, and if that means Amber staying here for a bit longer I'm sure she won't mind"

"I guess"

Rachel heard the front door open and Emily walk through the door so the two of them quickly changed the subject.

"Hiya love, you had a good day?" Rachel asked as Emily walked into the kitchen

"Yeah it was okay"

"Good, are you going to go and get changed so I can put your uniform in the wash"

"Okay"

Sue finished her drink and then said she needed to get going.

"Bye kids" Sue shouted from the bottom of the stairs

They all said goodbye to their Grandma so then Sue left.

Rachel went upstairs to go and see them all.

She went into Lola's room first where she was sat at her desk drawing a picture still in her uniform

"I thought you were going to get changed"

"Oh yeah I forgot"

"You are so like your Dad"

"When are we next seeing Dad?"

"He's picking you up on Sunday for a few days love"

"It feels like we haven't seen him for ages"

"Well you were meant to be with him last weekend but then he had to go away for work"

"Oh yeah"

"Anyway come on get changed"

Lola got a top and pair of leggings out of her drawers and then started to walk out of her room

"Where are you going?" Rachel asked

"To the bathroom"

"Why?"

"To get changed"

"Why can't you just get changed in here?"

"Because I want to get changed in the bathroom"

Rachel didn't really know why Lola wouldn't get changed in her bedroom but didn't say anything

She waited for Lola to come back to give her her school uniform and then went into Emily's bedroom

"Pass me your school uniform then" Rachel said

Emily picked up her school uniform that was scattered all across her bedroom before passing it to Rachel.

"Mum"

"Yeah"

"I think Amber's a bit upset"

"Why?"

"I saw her come out of the bathroom and it looked like she'd been crying"

"Okay thanks love, I'll go and see her now"

Rachel knocked on the door of the room Amber was staying in before walking in

She immediately noticed her nieces tearstained face

"Sweetheart what's wrong?" Rachel asked going over to her

"Nothing"

"Don't give me that rubbish"

"Just give me a minute and I'll be fine"

Rachel could tell that Amber wanted a little bit of time to herself so picked up her niece's uniform. She went into her bedroom and got changed herself before going and putting the load of washing on.

When she went into the lounge she saw Lola and Emily sat on the sofa watching TV together so decided to go and put her feet up and relax for a bit.

Both girls were lying down on one sofa so Rachel decided to sit on the other one.

While they were watching it Rachel kept glancing over at Emily as she looked a bit upset.

"What's up Em?" Rachel asked

"Nothing" Emily replied however then tears started to form in her eyes, there's been a few tears from Emily over the last couple of days but Rachel thought this was just from tiredness more than anything.

A couple of tears started rolling down Emily's face so she got up and went into the downstairs toilet.

Rachel followed her out to make sure she was okay. She knocked on the door, but when she didn't get a response tried the door and realised Emily hadn't locked it anyway.

"You going to tell me what's wrong darling?" Rachel asked and Emily shrugged

"I don't know why I keep crying, I've been doing it all day"

"Are you feeling tired?"

"Yeah"

"It's probably that then, it's been a long half term so you're probably just ready for a break"

Rachel then pulled Emily into her chest where she had a little cry into her and after a while Emily stopped so they both went back into the lounge.

"What's wrong with Emily?"

"She's just feeling a bit tired"

Amber was upstairs in her bedroom and she couldn't help but worry. She couldn't believe she hadn't thought about it before. Her period was late so of course she was thinking the worst, and if she was pregnant she really had no idea what she would do.

Part of her wanted to go out now and buy a test just so at least she would know, but the other part didn't want to know because at the minute not knowing was better than knowing she was pregnant.

In the end she decided to go downstairs with everyone else to try and take her mind off things, staying upstairs worrying on her own was only making things worse.

Rachel smiled at her niece as she came and sat down next to her on the sofa.

"What do you three want for tea? I'm going to have to go shopping in a bit"

"Pizza" Lola said

"And garlic bread" Emily added

"That okay with you Amber?"

"Yeah that's fine"

"Pizza it is then"

"Suppose I'd just as well go now then" Rachel said before standing up and taking the girl's empty glasses out into the kitchen

The whole time Amber had been sat there she'd been thinking about telling Rachel, she just felt like she needed to tell someone so that she didn't have to go through this by herself.

Amber took a deep breath before following her Aunt out. When she got to the kitchen she closed the door because this definitely wasn't something she wanted anyone else to hear

"Rach"

"Yeah"

Amber really didn't know what to say, she felt so worried

"My… my periods late" Amber said avoiding eye contact with her Aunt

Rachel could tell what she was getting at by this so rushed over to her and put her arms around her

"Is this why you've been so upset since you got home?" Rachel asked and Amber nodded

"It hadn't even crossed my mind until someone asked me for a painkiller today because they had period pains and then I realised how late I was"

"How late are you?"

"Two weeks"

"It could just be because of everything you've been through, you know when you're stressed or upset it can easily make your periods go a bit irregular"

"I suppose so"

"But I'll buy you a test when I go shopping, just so that we know"

"What if I am pregnant though Rach? What will I do?" Amber said tears starting to fill her eyes

"That's a bridge we'll cross when we come to it. Do you want to come with me or wait until I get back to do it?"

"I'll just wait here"

"Okay I'll be as quick as I can, try not to worry though"

Amber gave her a weak smile but of course now she felt sick with worry

Rachel got her coat and shoes on before going out to the car and driving to the supermarket.

When she got in there she picked up the pizzas first before going to the toiletries isle and picking up a test, she hid it under the pizzas just in case she did bump into someone she knew, which was very likely considering she was a head teacher at a local school.

Rachel just turned down to go down the chocolate isle when she saw Eddie walking towards her.

It wasn't until she'd stopped to speak to his that she realised the pizza had slipped off the pregnancy test. She quickly put the pizza back over the top but it was too late because Eddie has already seen, leaving him stood there very awkwardly.

"It's not mine Eddie" Rachel said

"It's fine Rachel, you don't have to explain anything to me"

"I promise you it's not Eddie" Rachel said knowing Eddie didn't believe her "please don't say a word to anyone else, but it's Amber's"

"I'm sorry Rach I didn't even think about that"

"Eddie it's fine" Rachel said smiling "listen I'd better get back but I'll see you on Sunday yeah?"

"Yeah see you then, I hope Amber's okay"

"Thanks Eddie"

Rachel then finished doing the shopping before going to pay and then driving home again.

She quickly put the pizzas in the oven before going upstairs to find Amber.

She found her lying on her bed so went in and passed her the box.

"Whatever it is, we'll deal with it okay?" Rachel asked and Amber nodded

Rachel gave Amber's arm a supportive squeeze as she walked out to go to the bathroom.

Amber went into the bathroom and followed the instructions before putting the test face down on the sink and waiting.

She timed three minutes but once the time was up she just couldn't bring herself to turn it over. Her hand were shaking so much and each time she tried she just couldn't do it.

Rachel had been waiting nervously outside for Rachel but she was starting to get a bit worried now as Amber still hadn't come out.

"Amber are you okay?" Rachel asked but she didn't get a reply

"Have you done the test?"

Amber opened the door so Rachel stepped into the bathroom and closed the door behind her. She then saw the test on the sink.

"Have you looked at it yet?" Rachel asked gently

"No, I can't Rach I just can't"

"Do you want me to look?"

"No, I don't want to know"

"I think you need to though don't you, come on I'm going to look"

Rachel felt every bit as worried as what Amber did she just wasn't letting on as she knew she needed to be the strong one for her niece.

Rachel took a deep breath before picking up the test and having a look. Relief flooded through her when she saw the test was negative.

Amber had already started crying before Rachel had even said anything because she was convinced she was pregnant.

"It's negative"

"What?"

"It's negative"

"Are you serious?"

"Of course I'm being serious I'm hardly going to lie to you over something like this am I?"

"I know"

"Come here"

Amber went to her Aunt and Rachel wrapped her arms around her and hugged her tightly.

They stayed like this for a few minutes and then the two of them went downstairs to get everything ready for tea.

It was soon ready so Rachel shouted them all through

"Kids dinner's ready"

It didn't take long for them all to come down and sit at the table.

It was nice to have them all there on a Friday night, because often at the weekend at least one of her children would be out somewhere.

"Mummy what are we doing tomorrow?"

"I thought we'd just have a bit of a relaxing day tomorrow soon as you're all so tired, we'll probably go out and get a bit of fresh air in the afternoon though"

"Can't we go out somewhere fun"

"We've got all week to do lots of fun things, I just think it would do you all good to not do anything too much"

"Okay then can we do some cooking though"

"I would think so, I found a recipe for some really nice cookies the other day so we could try them"

Once they'd all finished eating Rachel cleared up the kitchen before going upstairs.

She saw Emily in the bathroom so went into see her quickly.

She'd already changed into her pyjamas, but this wasn't unusual for Emily she would often put them on as soon as she got in from school if she wasn't going out anywhere again.

Emily was just washing her face when her Mum came in.

"Do you fancy putting a film on in a bit?" Rachel asked her daughter

"I can't, I've got loads of homework to do"

"What on a Friday night at the start of half term"

"But I've got so much to do I just want to make a start on it"

"And as your Mum I'm telling you you're having a break from school work until at least Wednesday"

"Why though?"

"Because you need to have a rest love you really do, trust me you'll do it all a lot better too if you have a break first"

"What if I don't get it all done in time"

"I'm sure you will"

Rachel looked in the mirror as Emily was washing her face and noticed her eczema was all up, something that often happened whenever Emily was feeling stressed or upset

"How's your skin feeling?"

"It's really sore"

"It does look quite sore, have you been putting your cream on?"

"Yeah"

"That's another reason why you need a little break, you're clearly working too hard and getting yourself all stressed out"

"I wish I didn't have stupid eczema, it makes my skin look so bad"

"Hey you have beautiful skin darling, honestly it's so clear now compared to what it was like when you were younger and it only flares up sometimes, most of the time your skins absolutely fine"

"I know, it's just annoying when it does come up"

"You still look beautiful though" Rachel said smiling "so do you fancy putting a film on then?"

"Yeah okay"

Rachel decided to get Lola changed into her pyjamas while she was upstairs rather than having to do it after the film.

"Take your clothes off then love" Rachel said

"No" Lola replied

"Why not?"

"Because you're looking at me"

"So, that doesn't normally bother you"

"Well you never stay with Emily when she gets changed, or Amber"

"That's a bit different isn't it because they're older than you"

"I'll go in the bathroom then"

"Fine I'll go out, just come down when you're in your pyjamas then"

Rachel really didn't understand why Lola was making such a big deal out of this, she was only seven but Rachel went downstairs and waited for them all to come down.

The girls all came down to watch the film but Finn decided to stay upstairs and play on his xbox.

Luckily they all decided that they wanted to watch Cinderella story so Rachel put it all on before going and sitting on the sofa with Lola, Amber and Emily sat on the other one.

It was getting near to the end of the film and Rachel looked down and saw that Lola had tears rolling down her cheeks.

She knew it would embarrass her if she said anything, so just pulled her into her chest and cuddled her.

Once the film had finished it was quite late so Rachel took Lola upstairs to get her into bed.

"You go to the bathroom and I'll wait in your room for you"

Rachel went through and Lola came in a couple of minutes later.

"Did you go for a wee?"

"Oh no I forgot"

"Go on then"

"I don't need to go though, I'll be fine"

"No you'd better go to the loo, you don't want to have an accident do you?"

"No"

Lola went to the toilet and then came back in and got into bed.

Rachel sat down on the bed and stroked her hair. It didn't take long for Lola to drop off to sleep, so once she had Rachel tiptoed out and went and joined Emily and Amber downstairs for a bit.

The three of them didn't go to bed that late because they were all tired.

But even though Amber was really tired when she got up to bed she couldn't get to sleep, she just had too much on her mind. She knew that the test was negative earlier but it didn't stop her worrying, because it could just have been too early to show up on the test.

After ages of lying there and not falling asleep Amber had had enough so got up and put her dressing gown on before going downstairs.

She went into the kitchen and got herself a glass of water before going and sitting in the lounge in the dark.

Rachel hadn't fallen gone to sleep herself yet as she'd decided to read in bed for a bit, so had heard someone going downstairs.

Feeling a bit concerned Rachel got out of bed and went down to see who it was.

When she walked into the lounge at first she didn't think there was anyone in there as it was all dark but then she saw her niece sat on the sofa.

Rachel flicked the light on before going over and sitting next to Amber.

"What you doing down here?" Rachel asked

"Can't sleep"

"How come?"

"I don't know, I was just thinking"

"About what?"

"Just stuff"

"What kind of stuff"

"I could still be pregnant Rach, you can have a false negative you know, you can't have a false positive but you can have a false negative"

"Oh sweetheart you can't start worrying like this, you're going to get yourself all worked up"

"But I could be though"

"And if you are we'll just have to deal with it then, but for now just try not to think anything of it"

"It's so hard though"

"I know it is, but worrying does you no good"

"I suppose"

"Come on, let's get you back up to bed"

The two of them went upstairs and Rachel followed Amber into her room.

Amber got into bed and Rachel sat down next to her and started stroking her hair.

"It doesn't feel like two minutes ago that I was doing this to try and get you off to sleep when you were Lola's age" Rachel said smiling

Rachel stayed with Amber for ages and eventually she did drop off to sleep.

Amber woke up quite late the next morning, it had been ages since she'd had a proper lie in but she definitely needed it. She got out of bed and went into the bathroom.

When she was on the loo she saw that she'd come on her period, and she couldn't have felt any more relieved. She was so happy.

Amber went out and walked into Rachel's bedroom where she was sat at her dressing table doing her makeup.

"Morning love, you slept well"

"Yeah I know, Rach do you have any pads?" Amber asked with a massive smile on her face

"Yeah course I do, see I told you everything would be fine didn't I?"

"I know"

"If you go into my bathroom cupboard and there's some in there"

"Thanks Rach"

Amber went in and sorted herself out before going back and lying down on her Auntie's bed

"You can't still be tired"

"I'm just relaxing. Rach is it okay if I do actually go to Sam's party tonight?"

"Of course it is darling"

Rachel was so pleased to see her niece smiling again, she hadn't seen her so happy in ages. She really did hope that things were just going to get better for her now.

Please review xxxx


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